Sweet Provenance
by Sunnepho
Summary: This is a story with a lot of beginnings, and if Ares has anything to say about it, there will be more beginnings. This is also a story about a war, in which Xena leads, Gabrielle wins, and Ares tries his best to focus. Rewrite.
1. Beginnings: In Which There is a Death

**Sweet Provenance**  
Atrophy

Disclaimer: All things recognizably _Xena: Warrior Princess_ are property of Renaissance Pictures and Universal Studios.

Here be a rewrite because the original fanfic was mindbogglingly bad. I was fourteen or something at the time, which I firmly believe to be a valid excuse. The unfortunate thing was that the premise was the part that was horrific… If you have no idea what I'm babbling about, consider yourself lucky. Anyway, I am slooooooow. Be warned.

* * *

Part 1/3 – Beginnings: In Which There is a Death

Xena stared across the field at her opponent. He watched her in turn, leaning his weight casually on one leg. His disinterested slouch contrasted sharply with the tense stance of the man standing just behind him, gesticulating wildly in an apparently one-sided argument. Xena leaned over and said, "Why are we fighting this exhibition match again?"

Gabrielle gave a long-suffering sigh. "Because Hercules asked us to take care of the situation with his nephew while he's off gallivanting with his latest conquest."

Xena snorted.

"Okay, that may have been a bit uncharitable of me," Gabrielle admitted. "He did say he was on his way. We just happened to be closer."

"You arranged the duel, though."

"It was better that than a war!" Gabrielle scowled at the new king of Corinth and was gratified to receive a flinch. "Iphicles' son knows nothing about waging a war."

"You would call that a good thing, normally."

Xena's words were soft, but Gabrielle found herself wincing. "Normally." Gabrielle shrugged. "When a warlord with an army of thousands shows up at the gate, having appeared out of absolutely nowhere, though— How in Tartarus did he manage to assemble an army like that without attracting any attention whatsoever?"

"I can guess. It's because of their champion over there. The bastard doesn't even look like he's taking this seriously," Xena said dryly.

Gabrielle looked at what was revealed of the man's face under the hood and mask. "You know who that is?"

"Of course." Her mouth twisted. "My skin is crawling."

* * *

Ares grinned unabashedly. His opponent was giving him a decidedly baleful glare. He wondered when Xena had gotten involved.

He'd started thinking that he had made a mistake taking in the ridiculously fervent young warlord, but hey, worshippers were worshippers. Even fanatics were better than nothing. He'd grudgingly approved when the man had pointed his new army at Corinth—prosperous, fat Corinth grown soft with peace, and when Xena appeared to take the place of the bellicose young man who'd demanded a duel, he'd started having fun. A bloody, drawn out war would have been better for his reputation and the reconstruction of his status, but… Ares cast another glance at the warrior princess. She was listening to Gabrielle say something and trying not to roll her eyes. This was better.

* * *

"Why am _I_ fighting?" Xena plucked at the mask on her own face. "And hiding like this?"

Gabrielle had the grace to look embarrassed. "Ah. Well… Mini Meleager made a claim he couldn't back up, and you… well, you're the same height."

She heard the stifled groan. "That family is more trouble than it's worth."

"Hey, friends in need, right?"

"_Friends_," was the grumbled response.

There was some commotion to the side, and Xena looked up to see the king of Corinth nod at her and gesture vaguely at the sun. She walked into the arena, watching steadily as the god of war waved off the sour-faced warlord and stepped forward as well. She stopped, widened her stance while rocking slightly to test her balance, and waited.

"Begin."

She sprang forward immediately. He drew quickly, and there was a harsh clang as he blocked Xena's attack, his blade unwavering despite her entire weight bearing down on him. Ares half-turned, letting Xena's sword scrape off his as she completed her landing. He extended for a riposte while she hadn't regained her balance from the leap, but he wasn't surprised when she twisted under the blade and dodged back to a safer distance. He smiled, matching her footwork as she began circling.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said cheerfully.

Xena gave him an unamused look. "Wasn't your baby warlord the one who was supposed to fight this duel?"

"Arctureos? Yup, but when your side made your substitution, how could I resist?"

Ares lunged, but was blocked easily, and he narrowly missed a knee to the gut. "That was vicious!" he crowed.

"So what, this is all just so you can get your rocks off?"

"Partially," he said soberly, "but also… Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand."

A flash of frustration crossed Xena's eyes, but it was gone so quickly Ares wasn't sure if he'd imagined it. Then she darted forward, drawing the second sword at her waist, and he was too busy blocking to think about it.

Xena was relentless. Each blocked attack was closely followed by another flash of steel. Her eyes were calm, flicking back and forth, finding and letting her exploit every sliver of an opening. Ares could see each attack, could predict and follow them with his eyes, but to his consternation, he slowly found himself forced backward. Even if he could see her every move, he wasn't fast enough to keep up with her, he realized. He pushed hard into a parry, enough to throw her back and break her pattern for a moment, and jumped away.

"Are you mad at me or something?" he said. He needed to break her concentration. Make her do something reckless.

"No," Xena said, unruffled as ever. He swore quietly to himself.

"Then," he began, but she cut him off.

"I just intend to win."

She rushed forward, one sword raised as a guard and the other extended in a thrust. Ares raised his sword. Ah! There was an opening! He just needed to knock aside _that_ sword at _that_ distance—

He thrust out, and Xena vanished.

Shit, she'd jumped. Ares blinked away his surprise and whirled as quickly as he could, but he was met with a rush of wind past his face, a sharp sting on his wrist that nearly knocked his sword out of his grasp, and hard impact to the back of his knee. He went down, landing awkwardly on one arm while the other was twisted behind his back, under the knee digging into his spine. The cool touch of a blade ghosted over the side of his neck.

Well, damn.

"Yield?" she demanded by his ear.

He thought about it. He could shake her off, but not without dislocating that shoulder, and not without using godly strength. Her huffed breaths on the back of his neck were very distracting.

"Yield?" she said again, this time accompanied by a harsh tug on his arm. That was really uncomfortable.

"Yes, yes! Yield!" he said.

She let him up amid the triumphant cheers of the citizens of Corinth. The king scurried forward, gushing his thanks, and directed his men to guide the blackly furious Arctureos into an audience chamber while clerks rushed by with heavy bundles of official looking scrolls, no doubt to discuss terms. Ares supposed it was his fault, but after the rush of that fight, he could not bring himself to care.

"Thanks," said Xena suddenly.

"What?"

"You didn't use any god tricks."

He drew himself up indignantly. "Are you implying that the God of War would cheat?"

She was laughing at him!

"No. You wouldn't. Sorry."

She smiled and slipped away just as the young man whose place she had taken stepped out into the arena, arms raised to the cheers of the spectators. He offered his arm, and Ares snorted to himself before raising his own to shake, imaging the kid's expression if he ever found out he'd shaken the hand of the god of war.

* * *

He found her later, tying on her leathers. Xena looked at him, raising a curious eyebrow when he shrugged and sat down beside her.

"Where's Gabrielle?"

"At the negotiations. She's brains and firepower all in one. I think the king's developing a crush."

Ares laughed. "What about you?"

"Oh, I've had a crush on Gabrielle since we started travelling together."

Ares pressed a hand to his chest. "You mean… I never had a chance?"

"Sure, you do. One in a billion, right?"

Laughing together felt kind of nice.

"Joking aside, yes, I should be there, too. I just need to finish getting dressed."

"Want some help?"

She slanted a look at him.

Ares put on his best hurt expression. "What? You mean you don't trust me, alone, here with you while you're half naked?"

"Oh, well, if you put it that way," Xena said drily, and turned her back to him, where the laces were still undone.

Ares began threading the loops, his fingers quick and efficient. When she pulled her hair off her neck, though, could he really be blamed for giving in?

Xena's breath hitched embarrassingly at the sensation of a hot mouth on her nape. "Hey!"

"You tempted me," was his nonchalant reply.

"Don't tempt _me_," she said, raising a meaningful fist.

Ares huffed. "Fine, fine. You're done, anyway."

Xena began attaching the various bits of armour before turning to look at him speculatively. "I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"That you're a god again."

He stared at her. "Was I that weak?"

She laughed. "No, that's not it. You…" she paused, struggling for words. "You've changed," she said finally.

"That's super descriptive, thanks."

Xena let go the flash of temper and the biting retort that had assembled itself at her lips when Ares surged to his feet, shaking his head, and began pacing agitatedly.

"No, I know what you mean," he said. He clenched his fists. "I have become weak."

"Ares—"

"No, I have. I should be the taste of blood, the roar of warcries, and the smell of battle in the air. I should strike fear in the heart of men even as they raise their weapons in my name. I should be the last thoughts of those who fall, letting them die with honour and absolution." He whirled and gripped her arm painfully. "My touch should send the thrill of the fight coursing through mortal veins because I am the God of War and _this is what I do_."

Xena looked up at him calmly in the silence. There it was: that desperation in his eyes. She pried free his whitened fingers and gripped them just as tightly. "But you are also _Ares_."

"You say that as if Ares and War are separate entities."

"In a way, they are. You may have made war, but mortals made Ares. Humans are what tell others they are human."

Ares shook his head. "But," he said, "I can't change."

"Don't be stupid. You mean you're afraid to change. I know you feel like you're losing something." She pressed his fingers to the corner of her mouth. "But have you considered that you could be gaining something as well?"

His lips quirked. "Is that a promise?"

Xena sighed. "I guess I'm off to the stuffy meeting."

"Is that a 'no'?"

"Don't push me, Ares. I don't know."

They stood there for a while. The sounds of revelry out in the streets filtered up and through the wooden shutters behind Xena that let in slabs of afternoon light. She watched him as his eyes flitted over everything in the room but her.

"That's not good enough," Ares said finally.

"That's all I have."

* * *

There were some other battles he had a bit of a stake in after that. Squabbles, really. Ares wasn't one to skimp on the production, though, no matter how small. He'd gained strength as patron of a fledgling city in the plains of Thrace. The problem with receiving tribute, however, was that it necessitated acting as if he had some modicum of appreciation for the pompous bastards in charge. He hadn't thought it would get this bad.

And so it was three days after that business with the man who called himself Artemis' son that Ares found Gabrielle hunched over a fire.

"You're going to burn yourself, sitting that close," he said.

Gabrielle laughed sharply without looking up. "Don't worry about me. I feel nothing but cold."

Ah. Melodrama. He wasn't good at this kind of thing.

"Maybe if you actually wore some clothes once in a while—"

"Ares, shut up."

"It's a valid suggestion."

A thrown sai buried itself into the dirt beside his boot. "I'm really not in the mood," Gabrielle said. She kept her head turned away and brushed quickly at her face before walking away towards what sounded like a river.

Xena made a half-amused little sound in her throat from behind him.

"I wasn't _trying_ to make her feel better or anything," Ares said quickly.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, I heard your non-statement loud and clear."

"Gabrielle will talk when she wants to talk."

"I don't know why I bother hanging around with you. It's giving me an inferiority complex."

"Learn some new words, did you?"

"See?"

Ares found himself grinning and struggled to control his facial muscles. It was a lost cause when he turned to Xena and saw her smile.

The smile faded slowly, and she leaned over to give the fire some unnecessary pokes. "I don't know what to do," she admitted finally. "She says she feels like she's losing herself."

"Because of a little bloodlust?"

There was that sad smile again. "People like you and me have a switch in their heads they can use to… turn everything off."

"People like us, huh."

"Gabrielle is different. She feels all the time."

He probably looked pretty puzzled. "So if she's losing who she used to be, can't she just choose to be someone else?"

Xena looked at him with something like approval in her eyes. "That's something only she can decide."

Great, he was bloating with pride. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Make me feel like I'm a kid every time."

Oh gods, she was looking pleased again.

"You're learning to be human, right?"

Ares didn't know what to say to that, but he knew a good opportunity when he saw one, and Xena was definitely looking at him like she didn't mind when he touched the line of her jaw and leaned over with the intent to initiate a kiss. Naturally, this was the optimal time for Gabrielle to return.

Xena leapt away as if scalded, and Gabrielle gave him the kind of look normally reserved for a fragrant pile of horse dung.

"Sorry for interrupting," she said, sounding anything but.

Ares cleared his throat and avoided meeting Gabrielle's eyes. "Well, now that everyone's here, what do you say to a nice, refreshing trip to the coast? Eh?" he said loudly. He waved his hand, and a coach appeared on the path. "I'll drive."

He winced at the suspicious stares.

"That's back the way we came," Xena said.

"So what's wrong with the way we were going?" Gabrielle continued.

It took a couple of tries to find his voice.

"How did you know that?" he said finally. "Can you smell trouble or something?"

"Maybe, but mostly you're just a terrible actor."

He sighed. At least Gabrielle seemed to have recovered her naturally snarky disposition. He settled down to explain after sending the coach back, much to the displeasure of the horse, who'd made it halfway through a small bush before vanishing.

The little city of Kakopolis was settled mainly with retired warriors and their families. Most of the warriors had at one point or other fought under the banner of Ares, and so when Ares made his appearance to suggest erecting a temple in his name in exchange for protection, he wasn't met with opposition. Unfortunately, the mob of bandits scouring the area didn't share that healthy respect for Ares' name, and several houses were razed on the outskirts. Ares exterminated most of them easily, but their leader had managed to utilize what few brain cells he possessed, and had squirmed his way into the good graces of the governing body while Ares wasn't looking. By the time Ares tracked the man down, he'd installed his thugs as a police force and had convinced the councillors that the bandits were led by Xena, the warrior princess.

"Kakopolis is about half a day up the road. I thought it'd be better to just steer clear."

Gabrielle said, "You're just going to leave them? People who depend on you?"

"I'd lose worshippers if I wiped out their law enforcers for reasons they don't understand."

"Ares, there's this little concept called the right thing to do," Gabrielle said, exasperated.

She got up and started throwing things into packs, muttering about insensitive wargods while she worked.

When he looked at Xena, though, she was smiling.

* * *

The women enshrouded in cloaks, they made it to the steps of the temple of Ares without issue.

"My lord Ares!"

Xena tugged her hood a bit further over her face, and Ares took an entirely too casual step back to put himself between her and the newcomer. She watched him turn to the man and nod stiffly.

"Mekran," he said.

Everything about the man was big and friendly, from his toothy smile to his outstretched hands. Xena distrusted him immediately.

"The temple was very quiet today. We were starting to wonder if lord Ares had abandoned us!" Mekran said loudly.

"I had some business with my associates." Ares indicated Xena and Gabrielle.

They'd drawn a crowd with the noise. Some of the more impressionable people were grovelling on the ground.

"Are my lords gods as well? Or perhaps pilgrims to the temple of Ares?"

Ares' hand settled onto the hilt of his sword. "I fail to see how that's any of your business."

Mekran bowed low. "A thousand apologies, lord Ares. As chief of the guards of Kakopolis, I have only the safety of the citizens in mind, but any friend of lord Ares is welcome in our city. Please do not hesitate to call upon my services or my men." He made eye contact with a man hovering in the shadows under a nearby house and jerked his head. Several guards clanked into position around the temple. "The temple of Ares is a great asset to the citizens, so please allow us to guard the premises to the utmost of our abilities."

Ares snapped his fingers, and the heavy temple doors slowly ground open against the backdrop of awed murmurings from the spectators at the show of power. Xena tugged on Gabrielle's cloak and led her through the door. She turned her head a bit, squinting at Ares silhouetted against the blinding sunlight.

"I appreciate your concern," he said through gritted teeth.

As he walked into the temple and the doors shut ponderously behind him, Xena caught a brief glimpse of Mekran's face. His smile twisted into a triumphant sneer before smoothing out again.

Ares led them into one of the bigger rooms at the back of the temple.

"Those were the bandits, huh?"

He nodded at Gabrielle. "Yeah. Their leader's under the protection of the councillors. The biggest collection of blind old farts I've ever seen."

"He's smart. I think he knows something about you, and this is personal."

"I've never seen the man before."

"You remember the faces of every man you've met?"

"Sure." Ares hesitated. "Well, the important ones, anyway."

Xena and Gabrielle shared an amused glance at that.

"That's not entirely useful," said Gabrielle. Ares sniffed dismissively.

"So what's the plan?" he asked instead.

"Don't really have one," Xena said. "But I have an idea."

* * *

Gabrielle rounded a corner carefully in the dark, senses extended for the slightest movement. It hadn't been much, but she'd woken to a strange noise, like a gasp. It hadn't sounded healthy. When she crept out of bed, Xena was already gone.

She palmed a sai, the chill of the blade pressing reassuringly against her hand.

The air shifted behind her, and she whirled, weapon shooting out hilt-first at throat level of the shadowy figure.

"Whoa!" hissed a familiar voice, and the man dodged enough that she only clipped his shoulder.

Gabrielle dropped her stance with a small groan. "What were you doing sneaking up behind me, Ares?"

"I wasn't sneaking! I was coming to meet you," Ares said in a stage whisper.

"Well, there's someone else sneaking around, and for gods' sakes, be quiet!"

Then there was a scream and a loud clatter of falling metalware, which rattled as if it was rolling on the ground.

Ares gave her a pointed look, and Gabrielle resisted the urge to punch the man. "Let's go!"

A couple of corridors brought them to an area dimly lit by candlelight. A cluster of priestesses were hovering around another priestess who appeared to be going into hysterics and a slumped form on the ground.

"What happened here?" Gabrielle asked over the din.

One pointed to the fallen body. "Ciaranne was stabbed! She's dead!"

The woman on the ground was dressed like another priestess. Blood was slowly seeping into her robes and puddling on the floor. Gabrielle lifted the woman slightly until she saw the shine of a dagger embedded in the woman's back. Her spine had been cut.

"She died quickly, at least," Ares said.

Gabrielle touched the pool of blood. "It's still warm. This must have happened very recently."

"So the killer's probably still close by," Ares said.

Gabrielle nodded. "Let's spread out and search. Can the women fight?"

"That won't be necessary."

Xena stepped into the light, dragging a body behind her.

Gabrielle winced at the hilt sticking out of the man's chest. "You killed him?"

Her friend grimaced and said, "I put the pinch on him, but when I took it off again, he tried to stab me with a knife." She looked at Ares. "Does he look familiar?"

He shook his head. "Don't know him. He's wearing a guard uniform, though."

"So he's one of Mekran's. Why would that man send someone recognizably working for him?" Gabrielle asked.

"Unless he meant for us to recognize him," Xena said.

Gabrielle nodded. "Did you get anything out of him when you put the pinch on him?"

"Time and location where he was supposed to meet Mekran after killing the priestess."

Ares touched Xena's arm briefly, just under the armguard. "You know it's a trap. He meant to have that man captured."

Xena smiled, or at least bared her teeth. "It's a trap for _you_. _I_ have a surprise for him."

* * *

It was near dawn when they approached the meeting point. The forest was starting to show signs of long-term human habitation: hacked down trees, scuffed earth. Xena was leading the party of three.

"So I'm just bait?" Ares complained.

"Think of it as being in the middle of all the action," Gabrielle replied with a snicker.

Xena came to a stop suddenly and held up a hand. "Alright," she said, "we're pretty close. Let's go, Gabrielle."

"You're leaving me?"

Xena gave him a smile that was entirely too happy for his liking. "The best bait is alone bait. Don't worry, just get in there. We've got you covered."

"And remember to look angry," added Gabrielle.

"That won't be a problem," said Ares, grumbling.

Xena's touch lingered on his arm for a moment, and then she and Gabrielle melted into the undergrowth.

Ares huffed and stepped forward.

Moments later, his reflexes screamed, and he ducked under the trajectory of a flying man. The man thumped head-first into a nearby tree, but a dozen others jumped down out of the surrounding trees, and he didn't have enough time to laugh at the oaf.

A few went down under sizzling fireballs, but more poured in to fill the gap.

They were after his sword, Ares realized, suddenly on the defensive. How had they known his godhood rested in his sword?

Despite trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, the bandits were clearly no match for an angry god of war, especially one who could down five men with one swing.

He saw a flash of something black, and raised his sword to protect his eyes. The whip wrapped around his blade and tugged it out of his hand, and he found himself cursing the instincts he'd picked up as a mortal. The sword clattered to the ground, and six men jumped on top of him when he made a dive for it.

Oh yes, this was what mortals called shit creek. It was surprising how much he hadn't missed it.

"So you really are just a mortal without your sword."

He followed the hand reaching down to pick up his sword up to Mekran's self-satisfied face. A growl rumbled deep in his chest, but the man only laughed.

"Ahh... Such power in this sword. I can feel it pumping into me." Mekran grinned down at him. "How's it feel, Ares? Mortal again just after you'd gotten your godhood back?"

"What the hell is your problem with me?"

Mekran gave him a blank look, as if he'd forgotten. "Ah, I didn't think you'd remember."

"Remember what?"

"We've met before, once."

"I don't remember ever meeting you!"

Mekran sighed. "Of course not. I was just a child." He tapped a finger on his arm thoughtfully. "Perhaps the name Agathon would ring a bell?"

"Agathon?" Ares narrowed his eyes. He did remember the skinny warlord who talked entirely too much for his own good. "A relation, then?"

"My father." Mekran crouched down in front of him, his face blackening rapidly. "You see, you bought his loyalty with Hephaestus' weapons, pretended you were on his side, and then you _fed him whole_ to the Warrior Princess Xena, all because you had a _thing_ for her. He told me! He told me if he didn't come back, I'd know _exactly_ who to blame!"

Ares flinched at the spittle that speckled his face.

"Well, you know what, Ares? I've heard all about Xena. No matter how much of a whipped little cur you are, that bitch will _never_—"

The whine of sliced wind Ares had been hearing was quite loud now. There was a spray of blood, and his lips twisted into a smirk as he watched Mekran cut off his diatribe with a yell and clutch at the stump where his arm used to be. The sword clanked to the ground even as Gabrielle connected with the men holding him down boot-first.

Xena's chakram embedded itself into a tree across from Mekran, and the man landed on the ground with a thud under Xena. He managed to turn his head to look up at her, his face waxy and pale with blood loss. Her boot pressed heavily on his back so that his cheek dug into the ground.

"You..." he said, his eyes widening with recognition.

Xena snarled. "_Me_." She drove her sword down and into his neck, and then she twisted.

* * *

He'd gotten a dirty gash across his chest, and even though it seamlessly healed once he'd reclaimed his sword, Xena insisted on washing the area and checking it out.

To be honest, she'd simply stared him into submission.

As he'd expected, there wasn't a blemish left on his chest, but Xena sat beside him, fingers lingering over the site of the wound.

"Hey," Ares said, and she jumped. "If you wanted to get me shirtless, all you had to do was ask."

She mumbled an apology, but her eyes never focussed. He looped his fingers around hers when she tried to retreat, and he pressed them against his heart. "I don't mind," he said.

Gabrielle cleared her throat pointedly behind him. Ares shot her a guilty look, but she only gave him a resigned smile before taking Xena's other hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Xena's head jerked up. "Oh. I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"The Way of the Warrior."

"Because you decided to kill him?"

Xena smiled briefly. "I guess. I was pretty angry."

"I thought you'd given up on all that Way business," Ares interjected.

Xena smiled again. "I guess." She looked down at their enjoined hands, both sets lying on her lap now. "Yeah. We're just living the best we can."

Gabrielle looked at her for a moment, and then she pressed her lips against Xena's cheek before pulling back to lean her head against Xena's shoulder.

Ares glowered for a moment at Gabrielle and said, "What about me?"

"What about you?" Xena tilted her head down until she was blinking at him through her bangs.

"Don't give me that innocent look. You know what I've gone through today? You made me _bait_—"

Xena's mouth brushed over his, and she nipped his bottom lip lightly before pressing another kiss to the corner of his mouth. It was... like fire.

"Happy?" she said, but she was smirking.

He acted as if he was thinking about it. "Yeah," he concluded. Ares licked his lips carefully, and he directed a wide grin at Gabrielle, who was watching him like she'd just seen a dog that'd performed an interesting if appalling trick and was waiting to see if he'd do it again. "Mine was better."

Xena snorted, and Gabrielle tried to smack him.

* * *

To be continued.


	2. In Which There is a Silly Interlude

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you... cracky filler. While I work on the main storyline. Sorry! XD

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Part 1.5/3 – In Which There is a Silly Interlude

And on the next episode of _fuck my life..._ Ares thought, glaring at the Asian goddess currently treating his arm to a choke-hold. The god had run into the foreign deity while overseeing a large scale pillaging of the capital of one of the warring states of Ch'in by one of his warlords. The lady had shadowed him for several nights, fluttering around and generally making a nuisance of herself. She didn't seem to care about the city, nor did any of the soldiers recognize her.

She didn't even speak Greek. Or anything else, for that matter, which he discovered during his futile attempts to get her to just leave.

When she had appeared during the day for the first time, all white scarves and glittery hair accessories, the captured general had looked at her like his eyes were about to bulge out of his head. The man had said a few quick words to her, but she'd only squeaked and hid behind Ares.

Ares had frowned. "Who in tartarus is she?"

"She Chang'e, goddess of moon," the general had replied in badly accented Greek.

She was one of the Taoist gods, then. He'd never liked them and their fixation with nature and balance and incredibly obscure poetry. Tree huggers, the lot of them. They couldn't even be bothered to get up from their meditation mats and acknowledge his presence when he went to the sky palace of their pantheon to complain.

Then, just when Ares thought he'd gotten a lucky break and lost the woman, he returns to Xena, and she takes one look at him and says, "Who's your new friend?"

The goddess wrapped her arms around his sword arm and gave Xena a dainty glare.

Ares groaned.

"This is Chang'e, one of the Taoist goddesses. We are not friends."

Xena smirked. "You look pretty friendly to me."

"You're not jealous, are you?"

She gave him a dry look.

"Does she speak?" Gabrielle asked.

They looked at the woman. She glanced around at them for a moment before her eyes lit up and she pulled a stoppered jade bottle from her sleeve to offer to him.

"For the last time, I don't want your bottle!"

Her face crumpled at his harsh tone, but he ignored her in favour of staring hard at an innocent patch of yew. "Not you, too," he complained.

Amidst a sprinkle of bright laughter and golden sparkles, Aphrodite made her appearance.

"Hey, bro! Got a new girlfriend? Ooh, she's got nice fashion sense!" Aphrodite made a little twirl, and then she was wearing a pinker version of Chang'e's glittery robe. "Not bad, huh?"

Ares was technically incapable of getting headaches, but Aphrodite possessed what he thought of as the 'sister effect'. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If you like her so much, you can have her."

Chang'e held her bottle out to Aphrodite.

"Aww, thanks, sweetie!" Aphrodite uncorked the bottle and took a little sniff. Her nose scrunched immediately. "Urgh! That's vile! Smells like herbs and stuff." She looked up and around. "What's in this thing, anyway?"

Xena shrugged, but a new voice broke in before she could offer a guess.

"That is the elixir of immortality."

Their eyes focussed immediately on the pointed ears popping out of the newcomer's shaggy grey hair and the distinctively muzzle-shaped protrusion of his nose and jaw.

"And you will give it to me," the wolf-like man continued.

His dramatic statement didn't have quite the desired impact, and everyone's words mixed in a confused babble.

"Who the hell are you?"

"_What_ are you?"

"How did you—"

"Oh my gosh, your tail is so cute!"

The last was from Aphrodite, and had all the stopping power of a brick wall.

"_What?_"

The man cleared his throat and glared fiercely. "I am the great Four Tailed Wolf Demon Lord, and are you going to give me the elixir or not?"

"That name's a mouthful, isn't it?" Xena stepped calmly in front of Chang'e, her sword drawn and resting lightly on her shoulder.

"It's shorter in my language," the demon replied reflexively, and then he snarled and shook his head, ears twitching agitatedly. "That doesn't matter! I will have the elixir!"

"Does the girl want to give you the elixir?"

"I'll take it whether she wants to or not!" The demon charged with claws outstretched.

Xena brought her sword up and between the sharp claws of the demon's right hand, digging into the thick pads lining his palm. He strained against her, aiming his claws for her face, and Xena twisted the blade sharply with a flick of her wrist. Nails snapped off with a spray of blood droplets, and the demon howled in pain before dashing off into the forest.

* * *

Chang'e hovered by Xena's side now, sneaking quick touches to her arm when she wasn't looking. Xena snatched her arm away again and glared at the silent woman.

"Why are you so damn touchy-feely?"

Gabrielle snickered, having been filled in once Xena returned to their camp trailed by three gods. "You saved her from the big bad wolf! Of course she's going to stick close to her protector."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up now. Wolfboy's going to be back, and then _you_ can fight him."

Gabrielle covered her grin with a hand. "You think he's going to be a problem?"

"No," said Xena.

"He's an idiot," said Ares.

"What's he want with an elixir of immortality if he's already a demon?" Aphrodite asked.

"From what I remember of Lao Ma's teachings, any living thing can achieve, er, Dao... I think, through meditation and understanding their own self. It's supposed to take hundreds of years, so many aspiring meditators try to find shortcuts to immortality. This elixir must be one of those shortcuts."

Gabrielle gave Xena a sceptical look. "That guy meditated for hundreds of years?"

Xena shrugged. "Maybe. The idea was that animals who did this gained human form as well as Dao."

"I still don't understand what that means."

"Dao. It's what they call a state of enlightenment."

"And immortality."

"Yeah."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "And I thought our gods were complicated."

"In any case, anyone trying to steal a shortcut to enlightenment doesn't deserve it," Aphrodite said. She looked around in the ensuing silence and threw up her hands. "What? I have my moments of wisdom!"

"Aphrodite's right," Xena said, nearly managing to keep a straight face, "We should protect Chang'e and her bottle."

The goddess took that as her cue to lean her head daintily against Xena's shoulder and offer her the bottle again.

Xena groaned.

* * *

The wolf demon waited until deep into the night, once their fire had died down to a slow flicker, before slinking into their camp. He headed towards the still shapes wrapped in the bedrolls, reaching out a hand on which claws shone white in the fitful moonlight.

He saw only a glitter out of the corner of his eye before a cold, and above all, sharp edge pressed into his clavicle.

"Not very smart, are you?" Xena said reflectively.

He turned with a snarl and leapt, unmindful of the seeping slash he'd gotten on the side of his neck from the movement.

Xena dropped to the ground with a muffled curse and rolled to the side.

"Fast, though," said Ares from next to her.

She gave him an unimpressed look. "Thank you for that. I think I just might never forget the way you offered up that little gem of wisdom instead of helping me in any way."

"I thought you had it covered," he replied with a grin.

"Please shut up." Ignoring Ares' chuckling in favour of leaping over the wolf demon's next charge, she rebounded off of a branch and landed lightly in a tree. Gabrielle and Chang'e were waiting for her there, Aphrodite having excused herself once it became obvious that she would need to lie on the ground. She'd had quite enough of slumming with mortals to last her for several lifetimes, thank you very much.

Gabrielle had a smirk on her face. "He gets to you, huh?"

Xena unclipped her chakram with a metallic clink. "Let's just get this bastard and leave the girl talk until later, yeah?"

"Like you wouldn't just come up with another excuse not to talk about this later."

Xena looked at Gabrielle seriously, ignoring the howling and rasping of claws against the trunk of their tree. "What is, is. No amount of talking is going to make a difference."

Gabrielle shook her head. "You'd think you'd get flustered or something, making a confession like that."

"I'm too old to blush and stutter."

"Nah. I think... you're just secure," Gabrielle said.

Xena put her hand on Gabrielle's arm with a smile, gently squeezing the warm skin. "I'm lucky to have what I have."

"As endearing as this love-fest is, are you going to stay up there chatting like old grannies all night?" Ares' annoyed voice floated up from the camp. There was a sound like fangs scraping across a metal gauntlet, and the wolf demon whimpered and backed into view.

Xena grinned and let the chakram fly. It separated into two flashing blurs that raced toward the demon, flanking him. The demon leapt out of harm's way, and Xena descended on him sword first with a yell. He somehow _twisted_ in midair and got by with a scrape on his side. Gabrielle's sai clipped his ear as he made a four-legged race for the tree-line.

Xena caught her chakram without looking, huffing out a quick insult to dogs in general, and inhumanly agile ones in particular.

"Should we go after him?"

"Not in the dark," Gabrielle said, and then gave Ares an appraising look. "Actually, since you're a god, feel free to go track him yourself."

"I'm the god of war, not a bloodhound," Ares said scathingly.

"You can't see in the dark?"

"No!"

They both turned at the sound of Xena's laughter. When Chang'e's light tinkling joined in despite her obvious lack of grasp on the situation, Ares and Gabrielle darted a quick look at each other. Ares shrugged.

* * *

Ch'in was _cold_.

"You could have told us it was winter here," Gabrielle said grumpily.

"It's not. We're just farther north." Ares pointed to the steaming carcass of some sort of deer behind him. "And I brought you that, didn't I?"

"Do you have any idea how long it takes to get pelts wearable?"

"About two seconds." Ares snapped his fingers, and the large brown pile became smaller, less smelly, but just as brown.

Gabrielle picked up the coat and examined the seams incredulously. "Huh. God of seamstresses."

"You're _welcome_," Ares glowered.

"Alright, kids. Stop bickering," Xena said. She eyed the skinned deer speculatively, heavy knife in hand. "It would have been nice to skip the cooking parts, too."

"I don't do cookery," Ares said, his expression put upon.

"Say," said Gabrielle suddenly, "don't Taoists refuse to eat meat? Does Chang'e need to eat in the first place?"

"Just ask her." Xena looked around. She frowned. "Where is she?"

Dull-coloured scrubland speckled with dull-coloured rocks stretched out in all directions, gently rolling to the east and ending in mountains to the west. A wheeling predatory bird cried out high above, and some brush rustled with a small animal's fear. There was a noticeable lack of white and glitter.

"Well," Ares said eventually. "We did come here to bring her back. Maybe she went home?"

"She is a god," Xena agreed. "She should be able to take care of herself." She thought for a moment, and said slowly, "On the other hand, given the circumstances..."

Ares sighed. "Fine. We'll look for your girlfriend."

Xena grinned at him. "What, are you jealous?" she mimicked.

"Of course I am."

Xena looked at him, surprised.

"In fact, I think I will need some affection to make it better."

Gabrielle wasn't sure if Xena was going to start laughing, put the knife in her hand to good use, or actually kiss him. She didn't think Xena knew, either, given the strange look on her face.

Luckily, they were interrupted by the sudden appearance of an elderly man with whiskers down to his hunched chest. He walked with the help of a gnarled cane and would have appeared normal in every respect were it not for his dropping out from thin air with a popping noise, and the fact that he was entirely the colour of the land in both skin and clothing.

Xena looked at him suspiciously and absentmindedly pushed Ares out of the way. "Who are you?"

"I am the Earth of this area," the little man said in a cracked voice and accented Greek.

"You're the embodiment of the land?"

"Yes," he said, faint surprise colouring his voice at the question. "Every land has a voice and a body like me."

Xena seemed prepared to accept that. "Alright, what do you want, then?"

The earth spirit gave the kind of sheepish smile only available to those with whiskers down to his chest. "Well, you seemed like strong, warrior types, and since they've got your friend anyway, I thought I could get some help—"

"Who's got our friend?" Xena said sharply. "Which friend? The girl in white?"

The spirit swayed back under the force of her glare. "Yes, yes. The demons that have invaded my land have your friend."

"What demons?"

He pointed a finger like a weathered stick. "They live in the caves in the western mountains. It is called Tiger Wolf Cavern."

Gabrielle heard most of this exchange, but she had something on her mind. "Why did you have to make this place so cold?"

The spirit stared at her blankly. "Is it cold? I quite like it."

* * *

What they found in Tiger Wolf Cavern was a tiger and a wolf. Both were demons that had mostly human bodies, wore ornate armour, and had trouble talking through their long teeth.

The wolf jumped to his feet, overturning a plate of what looked like jerky, and pointed. "You!" he said.

Ares' jaw slackened. "You!"

The tiger demon wiped his mouth hurriedly and stood as well, feeling left out.

It was the same incompetent wolf demon who had followed him to Greece.

"How did you manage to steal Chang'e without any of us noticing?" Ares said doubtfully.

The wolf puffed up his chest as much as his plate armour would allow. "This is _my_ turf. I have powers here you could never dream of. I can be the smoke on the wind! I can be the shadow under—"

A fireball formed in Ares' hand. "I've had enough of this."

"You... you can't do that! Guards! I have guards!"

Xena tossed a few helmets onto the ground. "Had," she corrected.

Gabrielle gave her sais a meaningful twirl.

The demons looked at each other, and then they rushed.

Both demons were extremely fast and seemed to rely solely on barrelling into someone in a clanking blur and trying to sink their teeth into their opponent's necks. Ares and Xena took full advantage of the extra reach their swords afforded them, but Gabrielle sheathed her sais in favour of a long pike.

The result was a strange form of jousting. Xena sidestepped another charge and took a swing at the passing demon. Her blade scored the demon's arm and left a splatter of blood on the rocky ground, but the demons' armour was effectively preventing any serious damage. The tiger demon had displayed an ability to inhale and swallow any fireballs Ares lobbed, leaving him with smoking breath, but none the worse for wear.

Slashing obviously was ineffective, Xena thought, and they were too quick at twisting away from stabs. She caught Ares' eye. He nodded, readying himself for the next charge.

This time, when the wolf demon rushed at her, Xena dashed forward, bypassing the bewildered demon, who skidded as he tried to stop, and she matched Ares' pace to flank the tiger demon.

There was a crunch of shattering armour and the scrape of blade against bone. The tiger demon snarled and struggled against the two swords impaling him like meat over a spit. Xena dodged the heavy swipe of a paw as best she could, but the claws left three parallel scratches on her collarbone. The demon lashed out again, but his movements were sluggish. With a harsh tug, Xena let her sword slide out of the demon's body. When Ares did the same, the demon collapsed into a murky puddle that was quickly turning into reddish mud.

His shape shifted in an eye-watering way, and then there was a big cat lying on the ground, its fur streaked with blood and its flanks heaving quickly and desperately. It stopped breathing.

Xena frowned, feeling a bit of a twinge. It really was just an animal.

A loud howl echoed through the cave, and Xena turned to see a huge wolf bearing down on her. The other demon must have transformed upon seeing the dead tiger. The wolf leapt, fangs bared and snarling, and Gabrielle stepped up smoothly and stabbed the pike into the wolf's belly. The wolf grunted, but brought a paw forward and slashed the wooden weapon into chunks. He landed on his feet, wobbled, and turned to fix Xena with yellow eyes.

There was an empty space where Ares had been standing.

She watched Ares bear down on the wolf from a high leap, sword extended, and all his weight devoted to driving the blade down. It crunched through the bedrock.

A whine rasped in the wolf's throat before it spasmed and stilled.

"Nice acrobatics," Xena said.

Ares pulled his sword free. "Someone used that move against me once, and I thought I'd give it a try," he said airily.

"I never stabbed through your skull like that."

"I made some improvements."

"Hah," Xena said.

Chang'e latched onto her arm in a blur of white and pressed her face flush against Xena's skin.

"Great." She sighed and pried the goddess free. "Look," she said, "he's dead now." She pointed at the wolf's corpse. Chang'e squealed and buried her face in the crook of Xena's elbow again. Okay, pointing out the dead wolf with leaking brains might have been a tactical error. Xena tried again. "He's dead, so you can go home now." The goddess regarded her with polite incomprehension.

There was a snicker from Ares' direction, though he never looked up from cleaning his sword.

Gabrielle just spread her hands and shrugged. No help there.

"You live in the moon, right?" Xena persisted. At Chang'e's delicately inquisitive moue, she pointed upwards. "The moon! You're Chang'e, and you live in the moon!"

There was a light laugh from behind her. Xena spun around and saw what had to be another deity. Her hairstyle was, if anything, even more ornate, gravity-defying twists of hair piled onto her head and speared into place with glittery webs of ornamentation. "You are partially correct. She does live in the moon," said the goddess, "but she is not Chang'e."

"... What?"

"I am Chang'e."

"Then who is she?"

"My companion, the White Rabbit."

Xena's forehead smoothed out in understanding. "The White Rabbit on the moon makes the elixir of immortality with mortar and pestle," she said quietly, as if reciting something heard long ago.

"Why is she down here, then?" said Ares, aggrieved. "If you knew how much trouble she's caused me..."

Chang'e, the real one, bowed. "I am terribly sorry, Western god. I had left her alone on the moon while I attended the great festival at the court of the Jade Emperor, and she took the opportunity to take on my form and come down to investigate the mortal world."

"All this because you went to a _party_?"

"I apologize again." Chang'e reached out a perfect, pale hand to the trembling rabbit cowering behind Xena, and suddenly she was holding a white bundle in her arms. She stroked its ears gently, which did absolutely nothing to help the maniacal look common to all rodents on the rabbit's face. It twitched its nose at Xena.

"She says 'thank you'," Chang'e said.

"Just tell her it was no problem." Xena paused. "Uh, if you can translate that into rabbit."

Chang'e smiled beatifically. Xena wondered if she was the only one feeling a bit nervous, especially at the calculating look in the goddess's eyes.

"So," Chang'e said. "Are you ever going to stop dancing around and just kiss him?"

Xena stiffened. Ares had come up behind her until his shoulder barely brushed hers. "You're awfully blunt," she said.

Chang'e was still laughing while she vanished.

Xena saw Gabrielle casually step over the wolf to head for the cave entrance. She gave Xena a look over her shoulder before slipping out. Xena gave her best glare.

When she turned around, Ares was way too close. He was much taller up close, and Xena had to look up. He radiated heat in the cold of the cave.

He stepped back hurriedly.

"Sorry," Ares said. He rubbed his neck uncomfortably, his eyes darting over Xena and away again. "I didn't mean to— I mean. Well. I don't know—"

There were enjoyable methods of shutting him up at least.

No, of course she didn't do _that_; they were surrounded by dead animals.

* * *

To be continued.


	3. In Which There is a War

Ahh, now we get to the blood and guts.

One last note: the military terms I've used are entirely and brain-breakingly anachronistic, but I wanted to use words that were immediately meaningful to everyone instead of throwing in random Greek words that would then need to be defined. Simple's better, yeah?

* * *

Part 2/3 – In Which There is a War

The land around Amphipolis was farm country, mostly flat. Two hours' walk away, though, there was something that was too big to be called a creek, but too small to be called a river. The people of Amphipolis never named it, but they did dig a channel to bring water close to their fields.

Willows hung over the banks, leaning heavily where the water had done some erosion work, and their fronds dangled nearly to the water's surface. On a bright day, sunlight dappled through the leaves and reflected back off the water's surface, throwing shifting patterns of light onto the underside of the canopy.

Xena and Lyceus had spent many a summer day here with a fishing pole. They'd been hiding from Toris more often than not.

The secret hideout was smaller than Xena remembered, now.

She ran a hand over the grass, which was as thick and spongy as ever, and saw the flash in the corner of her eye. She smiled to herself.

"Hey," said Ares.

"Hey, yourself."

He looked around. "This is nice."

"I grew up here."

Ares sat down beside her and stretched his legs out. His boots dangled over the edge of the bank and grazed the water, which broke and rippled, but continued to flow. "How's Cyrene's tavern doing?"

"It's good. Aliyah's a good housekeeper."

"She's the one who had an unhealthy fascination with Argo II, isn't she?"

"If you want to put it that way, sure."

"Are you going to be staying here for a while?"

"Not really. We were going to hit the road soon. The tavern's doing fine, and Gabrielle wants to go check on her sister."

"Ah."

Xena was looking at him suspiciously now. She started to say something, but he hopped to his feet.

"Hey," he said.

"What?"

"Let's spar."

Xena stood slowly. "Oh?" she said. "Got some... pent up energy to work off?" Her eyes drifted downwards.

Ares scowled. "What are you insinuating?"

"Oh, nothing."

He drew his sword and pointed it at her. "Now I'm really going to have to kick your ass."

"As if you could."

"We'll just have to see about that."

An observer might have noticed that two different conversations seemed to have occurred at the same time, and the matching smiles on their lips. A _good_ observer would have run at this point, and narrowly avoided being caught in Xena's attack, all flashing speed and kicks.

Ares brushed the smudged bootprint off his shoulder. He gave his sword a twirl. "Huh. Decent. Not going to draw?"

"Don't need to."

His grin was fierce. "I'll make you regret that."

He lunged, and Xena gripped his wrist, lifted herself off the ground, and planted another kick into his chest as she jumped over his sword arm.

Ares laughed and attacked again.

* * *

One win —she'd drawn her sword after all—, one draw, and one forfeit later, Xena lay in the grass, gasping for breath.

"Told you I'd win."

Xena didn't bother opening her eyes. "How noble, God of War. You need to take advantage of a mortal woman's lower stamina to, as you put it, 'win'." She paused for a moment. "Yes, I know that could be construed as suggestive. Stop giving me that creepy look."

"You're not even looking at me!"

"I don't need to. I _know_."

Ares sat down beside her again. Suddenly, he turned and rolled directly onto her. "Hey," he said, grinning the grin of a fighter high on the thrill of battle.

Xena had raised an arm in time to protect her ribs from being crushed. She laughed and shoved him off. "What?"

He rolled back, this time careful to brace himself on his arms over her. "Hey," he said again.

"Hmm."

"I love you."

She didn't say anything for a while, and he smirked. "Speechless?" he said.

Xena didn't seem to find this as funny as he did. She reached up and ran her fingertips over his jaw, and his beard rasped over her the faint calluses on her hands. Ares thought—

Ares drew in a breath and swallowed.

Then her hands caught the edges of the collar on his vest, and she tugged.

He must have been—he didn't know—

It wasn't much of a kiss at first, just the simple contact of lips on lips. Then Ares shifted, tilted his head, and it was—

He felt filled to bursting, enveloped in her scent, her taste, her hands dragging through his hair and coming around to slide through his open vest. Her fingers were rough against his skin, and her mouth opened to swallow the little noises he heard himself making in the back of his throat. Ares—

Ares pulled back guiltily, and Xena's eyes opened a sliver. She made an inquisitive noise.

"Sorry," he said. "There was... Actually, I did have something I needed to tell you."

She gave him a sharp look.

"Well..."

"What is it?"

"Remember Arctureos?"

"Your buddy at Corinth."

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yes."

"And?"

"He found out you were behind the failure of his plans for Corinth, and he's coming here."

Xena pushed Ares up and rose onto her elbows. "You think I can't handle a warlord with a grudge?"

"He still has the army."

Xena's face closed up slowly. "I see."

"Yeah."

"And you will not take away the army you have given him."

Ares couldn't think of anything to say.

"Because you have a reputation to uphold," Xena continued. "You would lose followers."

Ares looked at his hands, fisting in the grass. "I'm sorry." He winced as soon as he'd spoken. That didn't come out right.

He was still hovering over her. Xena gave him a hard shove and rolled to her feet. She brushed a few blades of grass from her hair as she turned to leave.

Ares jumped up. "Xena, wait—"

She cut him off with a raised hand. "Don't. Just... stop." She looked away. "I can't believe I—" she said, and stopped abruptly.

"You... what?" Ares said cautiously.

There was a resigned look in her eyes that made Ares go cold. Xena turned and walked away.

* * *

Gabrielle was sitting on her bed packing when Xena returned. She looked up from the large bundle of scrolls she was attempting to fit into a small bag using creative geometry.

"Hey," said Gabrielle. "I'll be ready to head out in a minute."

She caught Xena's hesitation.

"What is it?" Gabrielle smiled. "Did you not get to punch a fish in the face today?"

Xena hummed distractedly, and Gabrielle put the bag aside to catch her arm as she paced by. "Tell me."

"The army that laid siege to Corinth is coming for Amphipolis."

Gabrielle's eyes widened. "Why Amphipolis?"

"Specifically, the leader's coming for me, but I'll be willing to bet that he'd happily raze this place to the ground if I wasn't here."

"You'll stand and fight, then."

"I have to." Xena knelt by the bed and clasped Gabrielle's hand in hers. "But _you_ don't. After what happened..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Gabrielle said. "My place is beside you, always."

Xena smiled crookedly. "I was afraid you'd say that." Gabrielle grinned back. "But also relieved. Thank you."

"And Ares?"

Xena's eyes dropped away. "He's being Ares," she said, in tones that indicated the end of this vein of discussion.

Gabrielle was pretty sure she had a good idea as to what had happened, but she dropped the subject as she dropped her bag onto the bed. "What are we going to do about the villagers?"

* * *

Maphias was village head now, a position similar to a combination of magistrate, father, and spokesman. He seemed to hold court in the tavern these days, where Aliyah would happily provide him with as much fragrant ground nut brew as he wanted. It was jarring to see her childhood friend with grey streaked liberally through his beard and hair, but what made Xena feel inexplicably guilty was the way his eyes still softened when he saw her.

Fortunately, he was as practical as ever, and quickly let Xena get to the point.

"So... you want us to escape through the pass," Maphias said, after digesting the news.

"Yes. I can't lead the army away because the warlord Arctureos is operating on a personal vendetta. The village I was born in would no doubt be a target for him."

"You think he would attack us to get to you?"

"Yes." Xena frowned at the table beneath her hands and picked absently at a splinter. "I'm sorry," she said presently. "You're being dragged into this because of me. The least I can do is ensure the safety of the villagers."

"What about your safety?"

Xena looked up, startled.

Maphias took a calm sip from the mug in his hands. "How are you going to fight an army ten thousand strong?"

Xena had been thinking about this herself. "Corinth still owes me a favour."

"I know what Corinth's like," Maphias said grimly. "You'd be vastly outnumbered with inexperienced soldiers at your back."

"I could..." Gabrielle said. She paused and swallowed. "I could ask the Amazons if—"

Xena was shaking her head. "No. No, we can't. They've been through enough."

Gabrielle couldn't help the relief that crossed her face. She grimaced apologetically, but Xena only shook her head again with a smile.

"No," Xena said. "If I can take advantage of the terrain and be prepared, I think I have a good shot."

"Yeah, but the terrain's changed a bit in the past twenty five years," said a young man from behind her. She didn't recognize him.

"Yeah," said another. "We're the ones who changed it."

She frowned. The tavern was noticeably fuller now, crowded with villagers who watched her steadily. "What are you getting at?"

Maphias chuckled. "I think they want to help."

People nodded in the crowd.

"I can't let you—"

"The children have grown up hearing tales of you, Xena. You are a hero to them."

Xena's face darkened. "This is no time for _heroics_—"

She was interrupted again, this time by the young man who had spoken first. "We can't sit around passively, anymore. This is _our_ land, Xena!"

She turned fully to look at him. He had thick blond curls and earnest blue eyes. She sucked in a sharp breath, remembering the last time she'd seen eyes like that staring at her beseechingly.

"What's your name?" she said finally.

"Lykus." He seemed to swell. "I was named for the man who fought against oppression."

Oh gods. Even the name...

"Can you ride, Lykus?" she said softly.

"Yes. I'm the best horseman in the village!"

The boy beside him snorted and punched his arm. "You bring milk on a cart. You're the slowest driver on the road!"

"I've never broken a bottle!" Lykus retorted.

Xena had been scribbling something on a piece of parchment. She handed it to Lykus now. "I need you to take this to the king of Corinth."

Lykus looked like the clouds had parted and angels had descended to dance for him. "I will!" He made a dash for the door.

"Hold on!" Aliyah called from the bar. She tossed a waterskin at him when he turned to look. "It's a hot day out. Wear a hat."

He waved the waterskin at her cheerfully and rushed outside.

"He's a lot like Lyceus, isn't he?" Maphias had seen Xena's pained look.

"Your brother?" said Gabrielle softly.

Xena's jaw tightened. She would not fail this time.

* * *

The barricades they had built twenty five years ago were in remarkably good repair. Time had compressed the wooden spikes and hardened them into something like rock. The villagers had replaced the rotting twine holding the spikes in place, and then buried the barriers around the perimeter of the village.

Xena rested a hand on a hard bar, and peered out through a gap. Lykus had returned that night, and several days later, the army of Corinth had appeared at the head of a cloud of dust, with the king riding—badly—in front. The man hadn't stayed, citing political tensions at home with which Hercules was helping so he didn't need the army around, but he instructed his general to obey Xena's every word.

Given the awestruck glaze on the general Belasius's face, he needn't have bothered.

Maphias had been right. The soldiers numbered only three thousand, and were inexperienced and eager to see battle. Xena didn't bother correcting them. They would find out soon enough. They were nearly all sons of farmers.

This, however, meant that the pits to be dug in the plains and traps to be set in the woods were completed quickly and with minimal fuss. An incautious army would soon find itself buried or pincushioned.

Gabrielle found her here, watching the empty land.

"Haven't we done this before?" she said teasingly.

Xena smiled back. "We've got to stop meeting like this. Barricades are hardly a romantic backdrop."

Gabrielle laughed, and turned her face to the afternoon sun. It was painfully bright through her closed eyelids, but the warmth washing over her skin made her feel like she was digging roots into the soil and growing taller in the light. "It's been three weeks," she said. "Arctureos must know we're ready for him by now."

Xena hummed in agreement. "He's either supremely confident, or he's preparing some sort of surprise that he thinks will win this for him."

"Neither bodes well for us."

"We'll just have to be careful."

"How's... everything else?" Gabrielle said. It didn't sound very subtle to her ears, either.

Xena gave her a dry look. She opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly, a flock of birds rose black against the sky in the distance, their shrieks audible even from afar. When she looked at Gabrielle again, her friend nodded, her face grim. "Let's go."

* * *

They found part of Arctureos' army milling around one of the larger pits they had dug.

Xena held up her hand quietly, and she heard Belasius snapping a few orders behind her. The men—she'd brought three companies, just under a full battalion—settled into formation obediently. They were in a small copse of woods that overlooked the major plain of Amphipolis. There was some gentle clanking and whispering. They had picked up on Xena's plan remarkably quickly, and each man had smeared green dye over their armour. They gleamed like particularly virulent plants in the sun, but in the shade, they melted into the dark green shadows.

Belasius rode up next to Xena and Gabrielle.

"Must be just the vanguard," he said. He was an old man she remembered as a lieutenant colonel from Iphicles's reign. He'd been much greener, then, but just as respectful. He grinned. "We've caught some flies in our honey."

Xena watched doubtfully as the men tried to lash together some rope to pull their fallen comrades out of the pit. "A lot of them are just idling."

Belasius looked thoughtful and nodded. "Probably just don't have any orders. You think this is suspicious?"

Gabrielle huffed a laugh. "Xena _is_ pretty paranoid, but I've come to trust her instincts."

They watched for a while longer.

"They're really not going anywhere." Xena said. "No sign of scouts in the trees?"

"Negative."

"Alright," Xena said slowly. "I'm going to take one company and check this out." She touched Gabrielle's arm. "Stay here and watch my back?"

Gabrielle nodded, fingers tightening over the smooth wood of a longbow.

Xena picked her way to the foot of the wooded hills before turning to survey her men. A sea of green looked back at her. Some village boys had volunteered once the army had arrived. Xena hadn't been too pleased with the idea, but Maphias had made a speech about believing in the youth of tomorrow or something, and the boys had all cheered. She'd privately vowed to keep watch over them carefully.

With a sinking feeling, Xena recognized Lykus's beaming face.

"We are not going to do anything rash," she said to them firmly. "There are thirty or forty of them. We will circle around this hill, and if they do prove to be alone, we will attempt to capture them. Do not attempt any heroics. If they refuse to cooperate, we will kill them quickly."

Lykus's smile faded at her hard tone.

She tugged Argo around. "Move out."

The trek around the hill was uneventful, and Arctureos's men hadn't moved by the time they reached the treeline. Two thirds of them were still in the hole.

In retrospect, Xena should have realized something was strange before she spurred Argo into the sunlight, followed by the wildly yelling company.

Arctureos's men watched them approach for a good minute before turning and retreating, leaving part of their number in the pit.

With a sudden feeling of dread, Xena dragged Argo to a halt.

"They're running!" yelled a sergeant as he rushed by her. "Get them!"

"No!" Xena said. "Don't follow them!" She jumped off Argo and pushed her back toward the trees. Argo galloped off upon a smack to her rump.

Xena turned back to the soldiers chasing Arctureos's men. They were slowly spreading out from a clot in the centre, trailing a few stragglers.

Her vision flashed white.

The noise was so loud that she thought she felt a trickle in her ears.

She might have yelled something, but she wasn't sure. She couldn't hear herself.

Scattered explosions continued ahead after the main blast. Warped spears clattered to the ground along with blackened bodies and she could smell the sharp copper scent of blood amongst the smoke.

She could barely open her eyes, but she saw a blur of a form hunched over on the ground, holding its arms around its head. One of the stragglers, she thought.

Xena reached the man and helped him tug off his dented helmet that could only have been suffocating him, warped like that. Blond hair was quickly covered with soot. It was Lykus.

Xena dragged the boy to his feet. He stumbled, righted himself, and followed blindly as she pulled him back toward the hill. His eyes were closed and blood was trickling from his nose.

Another boom sounded close by, and Xena flung them to the ground, wrapping her arms around the boy's head. Debris pelted their bodies, and she felt a sharp sting on her right arm, just below the shoulder. When the shower subsided, she scrambled up.

They ran for the trees, and she never let go of Lykus's arm.

* * *

Xena's fist slammed into a table in the tavern, which had become an unofficial base of sorts.

Gabrielle winced. She'd heard a crack, and she wasn't sure if it was the table or Xena's hand.

Xena punched the table again.

"Black powder!" she roared. "Where the hell did he manage to get black powder?"

The few other survivors were in the corner, some on pallets. Villagers rushed by with water and bandages. There was a muffled scream from someone who was having shrapnel tugged from his flesh.

"Xena, please," said Gabrielle from beside her. She was holding a rag and a bowl of water.

Xena looked down at her arm, which was slick and red down to the elbow. She blinked in surprise. "It didn't feel that bad," she said. She let Gabrielle start rinsing the blood away.

Suddenly, she whipped around. Gabrielle made a wordless protest.

"Did you give him the secret of the powder?" Xena said through gritted teeth.

Ares looked as if he'd been sucker-punched. "No!"

"Then how?"

Ares waved an arm agitatedly. People swayed back, as if it were a weapon in and of itself. "I don't know! Last I checked, he hadn't even heard of it!"

"You're not keeping tabs on his _progress_?" Xena sneered.

Ares' fist clenched. He took a deep breath. "You know I would never help him," Ares said, deathly calm.

He and Xena stared at each other.

She looked away first.

"Sorry," she said shortly.

She let Gabrielle sit her down and continue washing out her wound.

Gabrielle winced. It was deep and jagged, and in the angry red, she saw a glint of something metallic. She pulled out a sai slowly. "I'm going to have to..." she said, and indicated the gash.

Xena took a deep breath and nodded.

"Give me some fire!" Gabrielle called to Aliyah.

As Gabrielle ran the point carefully through the flame of a large candle, Xena looked around. "I need something to..."

Ares offered her a small, flat slab of wood.

Gabrielle turned to her and nodded. Xena took a deep breath and carefully bit down on the wood. Gabrielle leaned in and braced her wrist on her other hand to keep it steady.

The wood creaked in Xena's mouth, and she made a strained, desperate noise that lasted for a long time.

Ares winced at the sizzling sound, and he wished fervently that he still had the power to heal.

Later, stitched and bandaged, Xena lay exhausted on her side.

When Gabrielle stood to leave, bowl of bloody water in hand, she paused.

"What did you say?"

"Lykus," Xena repeated blurrily. "Is Lykus?"

Gabrielle relaxed. "He's fine. Just a few scrapes and his ears are ringing."

Xena subsided, and her eyes drifted closed.

Gabrielle looked at Ares, who was sitting at the foot of the bed, staring moodily at his hands. He looked up, caught her gaze, and shook his head.

Gabrielle shrugged. She wasn't going to protest if he wanted to sit there all night, as long as he was quiet.

She'd never seen him this quiet before.

* * *

The next morning, Xena was up and about. Her back was straight, and she walked casually, but Gabrielle could see the tight, white skin around the corners of her eyes and mouth.

"We need to take out that black powder," Xena said once she'd gathered Gabrielle and Belasius. Ares hovered behind her like a kicked puppy.

Gabrielle nodded. "I can infiltrate their camp and find out where they're storing it."

Xena began to protest.

"No," interrupted Gabrielle. "I will do it. You're hurt. You're acting like you're fine, but we can all tell you're trying not to move your arm." She smiled. "I'm an old hand at raiding black powder stores, remember? Trust me."

Xena was silent for a while.

"Fine," she said finally. "I will arrange a distraction and lead them out of the camp. If I lead them into the gorge, that'll force them to bottleneck, and I can pick them off." She turned to Belasius. "I will need two or three platoons. The more archers, the better."

Belasius nodded and headed out toward the common room.

"Xena," said Ares. "I want to—"

"No." She half-smiled, and began rotating and stretching her arm gently. "This is my business, remember?"

He looked suitably chastised. "I wish you wouldn't be angry anymore," he mumbled.

Then, Xena's hand was on his chest, and she pushed him until he backed out of the room. Just before they turned the corner, she shot Gabrielle an apologetic glance.

Xena stopped, and she looked at him fully.

"I'm not angry at you, Ares."

He frowned sullenly. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!" she said, exasperated. "It's just—this really isn't the right time for this."

"Right," he said sarcastically. "You've suddenly decided to prioritize fighting above everything else."

"For what's at stake, yes," she snapped. "There are some things more important than your romantic pursuits, Ares."

Ares flinched.

A tense moment later, he rubbed at the skin above his eyes wearily. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's like... you _do_ something to my higher brain functions." He snorted. "I think it's making me crazy."

Xena huffed and laughed. "Don't try to blame me for that. You started out crazy." Her tight shoulders slumped.

"So... We're good?" Xena gave him a look, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Right, sorry. Bad timing."

She shook her head. "We'll talk once I get back, alright?" She put a hand on his arm, kissed him softly, and walked past him.

* * *

Lykus had slipped into the room after Xena and Ares left. Gabrielle looked up from where she was attaching various bits of weaponry to herself, startled.

"Lykus?"

He fisted his hands in his tunic, crumpling the material at his thighs. "Please take me with you!"

"... What?"

"It's my fault that Xena's hurt. I want to help you get rid of the black powder! Please!" Gabrielle was shaking her head, so he ploughed on. "Please! I'm good with a bow. I'll guard your back!"

"What about your family? Wouldn't they be devastated if something happened to you?"

He shook his head roughly. "I don't have any family. The village is my family. I just... I need to help you. Help them."

"Lykus..." Gabrielle stared at him, and then she sighed and handed him a couple of daggers. "Put these in your boot, and be ready to go soon." She waved off his fervent thanks. "Xena's gonna kill me," she said to herself.

* * *

Gabrielle lay flat on her belly under some flowering bushes near Arctureos's camp. She could see nothing but tents stretching to the horizon. She swallowed nervously and made sure her hand was clamped around Lykus's arm. He wasn't going anywhere without her permission.

"What will the signal be?" Lykus hissed.

"We'll know when we see it."

"What if we miss it?"

She slanted him a look. "Believe me, when Xena creates a signal, it's very hard to miss it."

"Oh."

She sighed when he started talking again.

"I always wanted to be a hero like Xena, growing up. Then _everyone_ would know me and acknowledge me."

Gabrielle frowned at him. "Having trouble with bullies?"

He flushed visibly in the darkness. "N-no! Of course not!"

She smothered a chuckle. "Xena was my hero, too. Then, I learned that I needed to be my own hero."

Lykus gave her a puzzled look. "Where did you learn that from?"

Gabrielle smiled faintly. "From Xena, actually. I think that's what really makes her a hero."

Just then, from the south, there were a few faint pops, a whoosh of a wall of flame, and a loud explosion, belching cinders and smoke into the air.

"What was _that_?"

"Our signal," Gabrielle said. Good old exploding ale trick. Xena was nothing if not flashy. She didn't loosen her grip on the boy's arm. "Now, we wait until the camp empties, and we sneak over to that tent."

"Why that one?"

"It's a bit far off from the main camp, and it's guarded. They probably thought that if it exploded at that distance, they would be fine."

"Won't they?"

"No, if that entire tent is filled with black powder, it would take out over half of their camp. That's partly why Xena is leading them out of here. It would be senseless to kill all of these soldiers when we could just remove their ability to fight instead."

Lykus looked impressed. "Even though they're the enemy?"

"The enemy has family, too. People who would miss them when they're gone."

Gabrielle's grip tightened painfully on Lykus's arm, but when he saw her expression, he didn't raise an objection.

"Come on," she said suddenly. "It's time."

* * *

Her warcry sounding shrilly, Xena flipped over two soldiers with spears and threw her legs out, knocking them into the cliff face behind her. There was the popping noise of a nose breaking, and they slumped to the ground with faint grunts.

Arrows whistled over her head, thudding into their targets.

She blocked a sword slash with a jarring blow that sent sparks into her vision and used her boot to flip up a discarded sword in time to block another attack from a different direction. Locking blades, she scraped the swords downward and stepped back smoothly, withdrawing at the precise moment that would send both opponents off balance and ploughing into each other. Their swords slid into each other's bellies with a small, slick sound.

She spun, sword in a back handed grip and threw her arm out. Another body fell to the ground while its head rolled to a stop in the grass farther off. It was getting slippery, Xena noted.

The sun beat down on her head, and her right arm was sending jolts of pain up and down her body.

Four more men burst through the opening at the end of the gorge. Two fell under a pinpoint burst of arrows, one with the fletch barely sticking out of his eye socket. Xena caught the third with a heavy upwards swing that slit his gut open.

She pivoted to pursue the fourth, only to find him impaled on the blade of white-faced young Corinthian.

"What are you doing down here?" she said, even as she stabbed another man.

"Running out of arrows!" he panted, tugging his sword free with both hands and sliding the soldier to the ground. "Some of us came down to help!"

Xena cut through another wave. The ground stunk under their feet, and it was getting harder to move without the threat of tripping over a body.

She gritted her teeth when her arm throbbed sharply. It was getting more frequent now.

There should have been an explosion of the black powder by now. They would have definitely heard it from this distance.

_Gabrielle..._

The arrow barrage had all but stopped. Several dozen more men joined her at the mouth of the gorge as Arctureos's men, emboldened by the lack of archers, burst through the opening and fanned out.

Xena attacked quickly, calculating each sword stroke to fell as many as efficiently as possible. A slash—a man staggered back, trying to cover the spurting gash across his throat—duck, follow through with a spin, throw sword out—a crunch of bone shattering—bring other sword up and lunge—

_What had happened to Gabrielle?_

She rolled and swept, toppling several soldiers who would not be able to stand on both legs anymore, and a shadow flickered over her face.

She looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun. Arctureos was standing on the cliff edge above the gorge. There was a flash of white teeth as he smiled and turned back toward his camp.

Xena looked around quickly. There weren't enough men. The main body of Arctureos's army must have retreated the camp, she realized with growing alarm.

Enough remained, however, to fill the gorge and surge outward. A strangled cry sounded beside her, and a Corinthian spearman fell, his mouth filling with blood.

Another was stabbed through the gut to her other side.

She was losing too many men. The black powder hadn't exploded, and most of the enemy were back at their camp.

The plan had failed.

Xena wrenched off balance a soldier who had his sword raised, ready to stab the Corinthian lying at his feet, and she thrust her extra sword through his chest.

"Retreat!" she called, leaving the sword in the soldier and pulling the Corinthian to his feet.

She slashed diagonally down the torso of another soldier who had tried to chase her. His collarbone crunched, and he crumpled.

"Retreat!"

Several more men picked up the cry, and they ran from the gorge, ignoring the jeers behind them.

Xena jumped and nearly put her sword through Gabrielle when she appeared out of the shadow of a tree. She checked herself in time and sighed with relief.

"Are you alright?"

Gabrielle's face was tight and drawn. "I'm sorry, Xena. Lykus asked to come with me and help."

Xena felt cold.

"Lykus?"

"He was captured. I'm sorry."

* * *

Xena and Gabrielle crouched on the cliff overlooking part of Arctureos's camp. They'd sent the rest of the Corinthians back to Amphipolis. Xena had insisted.

There was a lot of movement in the camp. Xena scanned the tents and the milling soldiers, and her breath caught in her mouth when she saw Lykus be dragged out of a tent and pushed to the ground in front of Arctureos. Blood streaked his hair, nearly black against blond.

"Give me your bow," said Xena. She checked the quiver she held. Only a few arrows left. She took one, ripped a piece of cloth from her undershift, and started wrapping it around the head. "You said that one's the black powder tent, right?"

"Yes." Gabrielle's eyes widened. "You're going to..."

"Yes." She grabbed Gabrielle's shoulder. "You get Lykus. Sneak in. I'll take out the guards when you've gotten close enough, and when that happens, grab him and _run_. Don't stand your ground, don't try to fight them. I'll cover you."

"There aren't enough arrows to—"

"There's no time," Xena said. "Just go!"

She watched Gabrielle slither down the cliff path, dodging from cover to cover. She put the wrapped arrow aside and inspected a couple of rocks underfoot. She chose a particularly sharp one, and a rough one.

Xena looked at Gabrielle. She was edging around a tent right behind where Lykus was being held to the ground, curled over his knees.

Xena raised the bow and nocked an arrow.

She paused.

Lykus had seen Gabrielle first, it seemed. He'd reached into the sides of his boots, pulled out two daggers, and stabbed them straight through the boots of his two guards. The guards screamed and fell to the ground. He immediately ducked under a swing of Arctureos's sword, rolled, and windmilled awkwardly to his feet right where Gabrielle grabbed his hand and dashed toward the closest treeline.

Xena couldn't help but laugh.

Arctureos screamed something and pointed. Two soldiers rushed after Gabrielle and Lykus. Xena let the arrows fly, and they both collapsed, bolts through their necks.

Arctureos ducked behind a tent quickly, looking around. He yelled something else, and soldiers started spreading out. No doubt looking for her.

Xena picked up the arrow that had the cloth wrapped around its head and placed it on the rock in front of her. Then she picked up the stones.

She closed her eyes, still counting in her head. They should be far enough away by now.

She struck the stones together until a spark jumped to the cloth, and she blew on the tiny golden speck gently. The day was dry, and it caught with a puff, steadily licking over the coiled cloth.

Xena slotted the arrow into the bow, took a deep breath, and let it fly.

A few busy moments later, the explosion was like a supernova through her eyelids.

Screams filled the smoky air when she unplugged her ears. She edged over to the cliff and peered down into the small crater where the tent had been. The surrounding tents had been flattened as if a giant hand had scraped along the ground for a good distance in all directions. A giant, flaming hand. She could see bodies amongst the fire, their armour glistening in a way that could only mean they'd been cooked as if meat in a can. Xena's face twisted into a sneer.

There was movement.

Soldiers out of range of the blast had rushed in, now that the flames had died down to a steady burn. There was a rocky outcrop just below the cliff, Xena noticed, that had shielded the space behind it enough that the grass was only slightly scorched. There was a collapsed tent there, and as Xena watched, the tent shifted. Soldiers started pulling at the fabric.

If Arctureos had survived that...

Xena crept down the cliff path.

She watched in disbelief as Arctureos clambered unsteadily to his feet, pushing off a blackened body of a guard. Had he used a human shield? She was having trouble deciding whether to be impressed or reviled.

She must have been watching for too long. There was a shout from the side.

Xena whipped around to see three soldiers rushing toward her, drawing their swords as they ran.

She glanced back at Arctureos. Just when he was within reach, too. He saw her now and yelled something unintelligible, pointing at her. His face was red and black, heavy veins popping out of his neck.

Xena assessed her odds. There were at least thirty men between her and Arctureos, and several more were trying to surround her. Damn. Her arm wasn't in very good shape, either.

Someone yelled, and she drew her sword quickly, blocking a blow to her neck with the motion. She slammed it down onto another attack, pushed herself up, and used a kick to a soldier's face as leverage to flip herself over the ring of swords. Her back was to the cliff now, at least.

They tried to surge her, and she ducked away. Several swords hacked into the sides of soldiers in the mass.

"We're just getting in one another's way!" She heard someone call out in the back. "Go in waves!" Then it was all just wordless yelling.

Xena hopped up onto the shoulders of an unlucky soldier who got too close. While he staggered around, she swept her sword at the row of surprised faces. Some of their heads were still intact when they thudded on the ground and rolled underfoot of the next wave. She squeezed with her thighs, and with a crack, the man under her collapsed. She landed on her feet and flipped backward, catching a couple of soldiers on the chin with boots on the upswing. There was a flicker behind her, and Xena spun around to catch a blade heading for her back with her sword. Pressing a hand against the flat of her sword, she shoved upward. Sparks flew, and the edge bit into the soldier's throat under the strap of his helmet.

There was a sharp pain in her side. She shoved her elbow down, trapping the sword lodged just below her ribs, and spun. It clattered free to the ground, letting her stab through the disarmed soldier, aiming up through the belly to the heart. She kicked him off the blade to fall against two men approaching from behind him, and they collapsed under the sudden weight.

Xena blocked a downward blow over her shoulder, and her sword was nearly jarred out of her hand. She viciously damped down at the rising wave of panic. The fingers on her right hand felt limp and nerveless, and there was a horrible burning sensation spreading out from her shoulder through her chest. Swinging with both hands, she cleaved a charging soldier from shoulder to hip with a roar.

She backed away, trying not to notice the way her sword shook in front of her eyes as she held it up in a two-handed guard. She _would not_ die here today.

Then, there was yelling in the amassed ranks. She frowned. She hadn't done anything. That she was aware of. Maybe. Gods, she was tired.

She hadn't. There was a tall man in a black cloak with the hood pulled far over his head despite the heat of the fires. He was tearing through the soldiers like a whirlwind.

She thought...

Xena stumbled, but she turned it into a roll under a slash of a sword aimed at her chest. She kicked out with a boot and was satisfied to receive a hoarse scream and a crack of bone. She left the man to collapse, took the opening, and ran.

The cloaked figure overtook her halfway through the woods, caught her about the waist as her knees buckled, and then there was light and an unpleasant tugging sensation.

When Xena opened her eyes, they were in the middle of the tavern in Amphipolis. Ares was yelling something in her ear. She turned to look at him. She winced at the volume and pulled the hood from his face. Yep, she confirmed, he was pissed.

Ares stopped mid-rant and blinked when she started laughing. She couldn't very well tell him it was the voices in her head making a joke, so she just closed her eyes, shook her head, and leaned her forehead against his collar.

It was kind of comfortable, she thought distantly.

* * *

Xena caught snatches of conversation as she drifted toward wakefulness.

"—_decimated_—"

"—at least _five thousand_ dead—"

"—single-handedly—"

"Get _out_."

She recognized the last voice, at least. It was Ares again.

She fell back asleep in the quiet.

When she woke again, it was to the grey light of pre-dawn.

She sat up. Strained muscles protested with bursts of flame. Oh gods, she was going to be stiff. She took in a deep breath and hacked when her dry lungs practically crackled.

There was a mug in front of her face.

"Drink," said Ares, his voice frosty.

She studied him as she accepted the mug and took a sip of the lukewarm water. His jaw was twitching.

He waited until she'd drained the mug and put it down.

"What were you _thinking_? _Were_ you thinking? You—"

She kissed him.

He pulled back. "Don't think you can—"

She kissed him again.

When he pulled back this time after a long moment, he seemed to deflate. He rubbed his brow lethargically. "You took at least a century off my lifespan today," he muttered.

Xena snickered. When she kissed him a third time, she licked a thin line along his mouth. His lips parted almost immediately. She grabbed his vest and pulled as she fell backward, narrowly escaping knocking her head on the wall behind her.

That was kind of dangerous.

His hands had dragged through her hair, down the sides of her thin shift—she'd gasped a bit—and were resting on her hips by the time she rolled them over and was crouched over him, pressed up against his chest.

He looked a bit dazed. His vest had gotten untucked somewhere in the roll, and the skin of his chest looked dark against the hand she had pressed over the cords of his muscles in the fuzzy, misty light. His lips looked swollen and so soft. Xena wanted to taste them again.

"Xena..." he said, and he frowned at her.

She sighed. "I have no intention of doing anything like what transpired yesterday again. I was mostly just trying to get away before you showed up."

He didn't look completely convinced.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

As lines go, that one was pretty much, more or less, overabused. It worked, at least.

* * *

To be continued.


	4. In Which There is an EndinXena Disagrees

Disclaimer: Xena and Ares' _thing_ was not harmed in the writing of this chapter.

And here we've arrived at the end! Wow, once I cut out all the crappy characterization and purple prose, I've lost nearly ten thousand words from the original. That's... rather disconcerting.

Anyway, thanks for sticking it out, whoever's left! *u*

* * *

Part 3/3. In Which There is an Endin—Xena Disagrees

"I hope you didn't damage your arm again in your... enthusiasm this morning."

Xena jumped, just a bit guiltily.

Gabrielle let her squirm for another moment before rolling her eyes. "No, you weren't that loud," she said, dropping down into the chair next to Xena's. "I just came to check on you at an inopportune time."

Xena laughed. Was it a bit hysterical? She checked. No, she was good.

"Don't think you're off the hook, yet," Gabrielle reminded her. "I'm still angry at you for your suicide run yesterday. Half of a very large army is _still_ a very large army."

"It wasn't ever supposed to be a suicide run."

Gabrielle hummed noncommittally. She finished checking the gash on Xena's side. It'd be a little sore, but it was healing nicely, and began pulling off the bandage wrapped over her shoulder and down to her elbow with quick movements. She paused, and then tugged quickly.

"Ow."

"Xena!" Gabrielle said in dismay.

Xena looked down. The wound had closed over, but it was glistening sickly and flecked with black. Angry red and purple veins branched off from it.

"Why didn't you say something? You can't have not felt this!"

Xena shrugged, and she winced, shifting her shoulder into a more comfortable position. "I didn't have time then."

"Well, you'd better have time now. I'm going to have to drain it."

Xena agreed reluctantly and started shedding armour while Gabrielle went to fetch water, a hollow needle, and more bandages.

When Gabrielle returned and had Xena's arm pinned to the table, she leaned forward, staring into the candle's flame. She cleared her throat.

"So... Are you okay with..."

"Hmm?"

Xena glanced at her. "You know."

Gabrielle laughed. "Never thought you'd get embarrassed."

Xena winced at the jab of the needle. "There's a first time for everything."

Gabrielle hummed again. "Well... Depends."

"On what?"

"Are you gonna get married and settle down on me?"

Xena swung around to stare at Gabrielle blankly. After a moment, she started sniggering.

Gabrielle smiled, her eyes still focussed on the task at hand. "See? We'll be fine. Stop moving."

Xena tried to still her shaking shoulders. "At least—"

"At least what?"

"At least I'd leave you my chakram as a souvenir." Her voice broke and she continued laughing.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes and reached for the water bowl.

"Who says I want your cast-offs?"

* * *

Ares found her going over a map with a quill pen in hand.

"Hey," he said, wrapping his arms around Xena's waist and nuzzling her hair. It smelled nice.

"Hi." She gave him a sidelong glance. "Going to lecture me some more?"

"Nah." He said against her scalp. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you're gonna let me punish you as well." He bit down at her neck and grinned when her pulse sped up under his lips.

She laughed, a bit breathily. "What if I'm not into that kind of thing?"

"Oh, I'm sure I could make it worth your while," he said, letting the words rumble in his chest.

"You do realize we're in the middle of a war?"

"That can wait."

She snorted, but she turned in his grasp, tilting her head up.

The kiss was just getting interesting—he loved her hands, soft and rough in just the right places—when the door slammed open.

Ares groaned and disentangled his fingers from Xena's hair reluctantly.

Belasius was looking fairly shell-shocked. His mouth worked soundlessly, and his eyes shifted Xena to Ares and back again.

_Mortals_, Ares thought. He crossed his arms over his chest and levelled a glare at the man. So he was just a bit frustrated at being interrupted, that's all. Once upon a time, he might have shot off a fireball first and looked later. Damn, he really was going soft.

"Well?" said Xena's razor-sharp voice.

Belasius snapped to attention. "Arctureos is moving, sir. Frontal charge."

"_Moving?_ How? That explosion took out half of his camp yesterday!" Xena said incredulously.

Belasius's throat bobbed, and there was a glint of sweat at his hairline. "He's probably trying to catch us by surprise. His losses yesterday must be infuriating him."

Xena growled. She stared down at the map, tapping her finger against the table's surface. When she looked up again, there was a gleam in her eyes, as if fire was reflecting from her irises. "Get me every able-bodied soldier," she said. "We're going to meet him and _crush_ him." She paused suddenly in thought. "No, actually, light the bonfires we've set up in the plains. Bring all the smoke chips we've collected." She smiled, or at least bared her teeth. "I'm going to give him some chaos to be surprised about first."

Ares looked at her sharply. "You're not going out there alone with those wounds."

"I can't sit this one out after what the men saw yesterday. That would kill morale." She frowned, and her voice hardened. "I know what I'm capable of, Ares. _You_ were the one who gave him this army."

Ares' eyes narrowed. "Then _I_ will go. I'll take away the soldiers and kill him myself. I don't want you to—"

"Stay _out of my way_, Ares." The gleam had turned malevolent.

Ares' jaw clenched. He tried to think of something to say, but hot rage and cold dread was clouding his mind.

She nodded to Belasius. "Do it."

The general hesitated for a bare moment before he saluted and marched out.

Xena looked back at Ares as if she dared him to challenge her.

Ares shook his head and transported himself away. He recognized that look.

He wasn't sure if he liked it.

* * *

Thedalus was twenty two. He'd joined his lord Ares' army six months ago because he heard that the pay was good, and with his face beginning to clear up, the uniform was _really_ attracting the attentions of some of the girls back home in his village. When he was deployed with the rest of the army to follow some guy called Arctureos, he didn't think too much of it, even if Arctureos was clearly insane and high-strung enough to hop up and down and smash things when Lord Ares lost them their shot at Corinth a few months ago. A job was a job, right?

So consider this from his point of view. He had two weeks of leave coming up in a month—hopefully, if this thing against Amphipolis finished up in time—and he hadn't actually managed to fight anyone. After seeing what had happened to some of the other soldiers once Xena had left, he wasn't sure if that wasn't a good thing. He also wasn't sure if he wanted to come back after his leave was up. In any case, he'd make that decision when the time came. For now, he was marching with his unit under the scorching sunlight because Arctureos had practically had an apoplexy when one of the L.T.s had tried to suggest that they retreat for now and regroup. Arctureos had screamed at them a bit and pointed them at Amphipolis right then and there, never mind that it was the middle of the day.

It was a surprise attack, Thedalus reasoned.

So imagine Thedalus's surprise when a cloud drifted across the sun and he looked up to see that it was an awfully dark, low-lying cloud, and was, in fact, not a cloud at all, but smoke that clogged the air and made his throat itch.

His unit slowed uncertainly in their march. The smoke was getting thicker, and it was getting hard to see anything except blurred shadows, even of the people right beside him.

Then, he couldn't see anyone at all.

"Krakus?" he said, squinting around. "Sir?" It was as if he was isolated in a grey, shifting world.

Thedalus took a few steps forward, reasoning that any direction could only be an improvement.

"Sir?"

He was relieved to see a tall shape in the fog in front of him. He ran forward, and it wasn't until steel flashed and he was falling forward with blood rushing over his hands that he recognized the hard blue eyes.

* * *

Xena flitted through the smoke like a ghost.

The last soldier had had a chance to shout before her sword slicked through his throat. The noise had caught the attention of two other soldiers, who had come running. They'd bumped into each other in the smoke and wasted a precious few seconds ascertaining that they were on the same side, seconds that Xena used to slip behind them and _swing_.

She flicked her sword and some more blood splattered to the ground.

There were some shouts and pained gurgles in the smoke.

She smiled. The soldiers were beginning to realize that something was picking them off and getting jumpy. Friendly stabs were sure to follow. She couldn't see very well, either, but her advantage was that _everyone_ was an enemy.

There was a presence to her left.

To the soldier, it must have looked like the smoke flickered. Then, there was a sword through his neck.

Xena wiped her sword off on the man's pants as he sprawled on the ground.

Every good fighter develops something like a sense for life energy. That's why she had always known when Ares was around (he _radiated_) and it was so difficult to sneak up on Gabrielle anymore. It could be described as the feeling of someone stepping into her personal bubble. What Xena had learned from a swordsmaster in the East, however, was how to extend her bubble and differentiate between the energies of different people. A seasoned warrior did not have the same presence as a farmhand. From what she was sensing in the smoke, a good number of Arctureos's soldiers had little experience as warriors. Well, it was too late to worry about that.

She looked around. The smoke was beginning to drift away under the breeze.

She hadn't actually killed that many soldiers. The confusion and paranoia she'd sown amongst the men, though, that couldn't have gone better.

Satisfied, Xena closed her eyes and extended her senses.

There. She felt Gabrielle.

Xena began to walk.

* * *

The smoke had finally dissipated. Arctureos's army was in disarray, all semblance of formation lost. As they located each other, they began to clump together until groups of various sizes dotted the plains. Nearly a fifth lay on the ground, a few cut down with clinical precision, the rest the unlucky victims of blind slashes. Many were clutching injuries and moaning.

The sun seared away the last of the smoke, and when they looked towards Amphipolis, a wall of metal glinted in the light.

And in front of the Corinthian ranks was Xena, tall upon her great cream horse.

She drew her sword slowly, a fierce smile on her face.

"_Kill'em all!_"

After the initial confusion, Arctureos's army met the Corinthians' charge. Here and there, a Corinthian went down under a thrust of sword or spear, but Arctureos's army could no more break their line than raindrops could collapse a tsunami.

And through it all rode Xena, sword flashing, eyes glowing, like a god of death.

Her sword bit down though another soldier's shoulder, and she kicked a spearman hard enough to crush his nose.

She looked over her shoulder. One of the village boys had gotten separated from the rest of the ranks, and he stumbled and fell, a spear stuck above his collarbone.

Xena kicked off of Argo's saddle, flipping tightly in the air and landing heavily on the soldier who was trying to land a finishing blow on the boy. Reaching over his shoulder, she dragged her blade over his exposed throat.

The boy was gasping in pain, clutching at the heavy spear. It might have nicked an artery, Xena thought. She checked the wound. The tip of the spear had gone in only two fingerwidths, but the weight of the weapon was forcing it down further into the boy's shoulder. She ripped off a piece of the boy's tunic, wadded it into a ball, and yanked the spear up and out.

He cried out, and she pressed the cloth tightly against his shoulder.

"Keep up the pressure!" she told him, guiding his fingers to hold the makeshift bandage in place.

No sooner than she had let go of the boy's hand, she raised her sword up above her head to block a downward stroke directed at her crown.

Her shoulder screamed.

She spun around, using the force of her movement to cleave the soldier's head from his shoulders. A spray of blood spotted her neck and chest, but she knew the hot trickle down her arm hadn't been this man's blood.

Xena swore. She'd torn the stitches.

Another spearman tried to run her through. A quick grab, tuck the spear under one arm, and a stab, all in one movement. What kind of idiot uses a spear in melee combat, anyway?

She glanced down at the boy. His lips were waxy blue, and the cloth was quickly soaking through.

"Kid!" she said.

She couldn't stop to help him. Two swordsmen rushed her, and she jumped up, legs thrown out wide, and kicked them both in the face.

"Kid!"

The boy's fingers slackened further, and the cloth tumbled to the ground. Blood welled from his neck in pulses.

Screaming in rage now, she held her sword flat, supporting it with both hands, and leapt up toward another soldier. The blade crunched into his nose and cheeks. Landing in a crouch, she threw a leg out and around, sweeping another off his feet and to the ground in front of her. She stabbed down.

The boy had stopped bleeding.

Xena didn't waste time yelling anymore. She threw herself into another attack.

It wasn't long before bodies littered the ground around her. Her arm was painfully hot, sending sparks dancing across her vision.

A sword bit down into the ground where she had been a moment ago. She rolled around and slashed hard, diagonally down the soldier's back.

Staggering to her feet, she ignored the limpness in her muscles and the heavy fog on her mind. She had to keep moving.

She sheared through a swordsman's neck and took down another with a tackle and a stab with her breast dagger in her left hand, when there was a wordless roar.

She looked up and around.

Arctureos's soldiers were running.

A couple streamed past her, one giving the boy from her village a kick in the head accidentally as he stumbled past. She took his head off reflexively.

"They're running!" someone shouted, coming toward her.

It was Belasius.

She knelt down and wiped half-heartedly at the blood on the boy's neck, and then she closed his filmed eyes.

"Xena?"

"Status?"

"I don't know all the numbers yet. I think we may have lost a company."

She nodded. Her neck was stiff. Fatigue, she thought.

"Take him back to the village," she said, nodding at the boy at her feet.

"Yessir." Belasius waved in two footmen to pick up the body. He put the boy's sword on his chest and folded his arms over it.

Xena watched them shuffle away, and she turned to Argo, who had sidled up and was nipping her hair.

"Sorry for leaving you, girl." Xena pulled herself up into the saddle. Something hot and wet trickled over her arm at the movement. She didn't look at it.

Nudging Argo with her knees, she let Argo pick her way over the battlefield, giving the occasional nod to a cheering soldier.

She made it back to the tavern like this, and into her room, before her vision stopped being blurry and went, instead, simply black.

"Xena?"

* * *

Gabrielle squeezed the excess water from the cloth in her hand, folded it in two, and replaced it on top of Xena's forehead.

She sighed. Xena's fever didn't seem to show any signs of abating. She'd patched up Xena's arm again. At least that went smoothly, what with Xena being unconscious for the process. Aliyah had found some of the medicine Xena had used on her face back when they were being chased by the Olympians. Despite its age, it worked remarkably well. The swelling on Xena's arm seemed to be checking itself. It wasn't receding, though.

"How is she?"

Gabrielle gave Ares a tired look. "As well as she _can_ be," she said. "She wasn't resting her arm properly and giving it a chance to heal. She wasn't eating properly or sleeping either."

Ares frowned at her. "But yesterday—"

"Being unconscious does not count as sleep," Gabrielle interjected. "It doesn't help you heal."

Ares nodded, a bit helplessly. "You know a lot."

"She's taught me a lot."

Ares laughed quietly and ran his fingertips over Xena's cheek. The skin felt stretched, and it burned. "She seemed like she was fine just a few hours ago."

"Yes, well, she's good at _seeming_. She's going to be in so much trouble when she wakes up..." Gabrielle grumbled.

"Maybe we're the ones in trouble."

Gabrielle snorted. "We're the ones crazy enough to love her anyway, you mean."

There was a commotion outside.

Belasius's second in command, a tall wiry man, stomped into the room. "Xena!" he said. "There's trouble! We've just gotten reports that Arctureos has reinforcements coming from Sparta—" He cut off abruptly under the combined weight of Gabrielle and Ares' glares.

Xena stirred, but didn't wake.

Gabrielle stood and walked to the door. She jerked her head at the man. "We'll talk outside," she hissed.

The door shut almost all the way behind them.

Ares sat in the chair Gabrielle had pulled up the bed. He became aware of eyes boring into the back of his neck. Turning his head, he caught a glimpse of widened blue eyes and a blond blur that vanished from the crack in the door. The door closed.

Ares looked back to Xena. He threaded his fingers through the dry, hot hair, and he chuckled. "I think your new adoptive brother doesn't like me much," he said.

There wasn't a response.

He looked up when Gabrielle came back into the room.

"I'm going to go," she announced, her face grim.

Ares hesitated. "Are you sure you should be hiding this from her?"

Her glare swivelled to him, and he found himself leaning back.

"Don't you understand?" she said softly. "Xena needs to rest. If she pushes herself anymore, at best she will lose that arm."

Ares felt a pit opening in the bottom of his stomach. At best?

"I am going to go stop these reinforcements," Gabrielle continued. "I want you to take care of her."

At Ares' nod, she subsided. She leaned over Xena, checking to see if the wet cloth needed to be changed. She took in a deep breath and pressed her lips against Xena's cheek.

"Please be alright," she whispered.

If Ares heard her voice creak, he didn't say anything.

* * *

Gabrielle stared down at the army snaking through the forest road at her feet. Their armour clanked in unison as they marched, echoing in the air.

Someone swore softly behind her.

"And just when we'd finally gotten on even footing. We might even have had the advantage if we considered the terrain," Gabrielle said.

Belasius agreed quietly.

Gabrielle ran her hands roughly through her hair. It was dusty. Gods, she hadn't had a good bath in weeks.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "Okay. There's only one road into the valley, right? They have to go through the pass."

Belasius gave her a doubtful look. "Begging your pardon, sir, but if even Xena couldn't hold that pass last time we tried to trap Arctureos there..."

Gabrielle shook her head. "No, we don't need to hold it. We just need to block it somehow."

"Even so, they're on the only road right now. How are we going to get there before them?"

Gabrielle scanned the troop with her.

Ah, she was right.

There was Lykus and one of his friends. They were uncharacteristically quiet today.

Gabrielle winced, remembering the dead boy.

She shook the image from her head.

"Know a shortcut?" she asked.

Lykus nodded, and there was a hard edge to his eyes that hadn't been there before. Gabrielle thought he looked older.

"Leave it to us," he said.

* * *

Voices were buzzing outside the door again.

Ares unlaced his fingers from Xena's and stalked to the door.

Dragging it open, he scowled fiercely at the suddenly pale and frozen soldiers. It looked like a scuffle had been about to break out.

"What is it?" he snapped.

One of the soldiers jumped and saluted. "Sir," he stammered, "Arctureos rallied the remainder of his troops. He's, uh, demanding a duel."

"With whom?"

"Xena, sir."

"Well, send a messenger. Xena doesn't need to humour him in his little ego trip. Just let him come and see how far he gets with a crippled army in foreign lands."

"I _said_ we shouldn't have told him!" hissed the other soldier angrily. "We could have handled this!"

The first soldier dragged his elbow out of his colleague's grasp harshly. "He's threatening to burn the fields and forests, and whatever he can reach of the village!"

Ares frowned. "Look, soldier—what's your name? Aeneas?—look, Aeneas, Xena doesn—"

There was a hand on his arm.

"Stall him," Xena said. "I will be there as soon as I can."

Aeneas saluted gratefully and fled.

Ares trailed Xena back into her bedroom.

"You can't go out there," he said.

She didn't answer, instead checking the dressing on her arm with a frown.

"You're sick, Xena!"

She had one end of a bandage in her teeth and was winding the rest tightly around her arm and up her shoulder. She glanced at him.

Her face was red and pale in patches and her eyes too bright.

"Xena—"

She finished tightening the bandage and tested her arm. It didn't shake anymore. Satisfied, Xena slung her armour over a shoulder and picked up her sword. She slid it from its sheath and inspected the edge. A few more scratches. She would need to have it reworked soon.

"I have something to protect, Ares," she said, her voice steady.

Ares' jaw tightened until his teeth felt as if they were grinding to dust. Arguing with her never worked.

* * *

Arctureos crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the muttering behind his back.

Contrary to what the soldiers might think—and no, he didn't care what they thought—this wasn't a half-hatched revenge plot for the humiliating loss in Corinth. Arctureos had goals. Ambitions.

Arctureos was planning ahead.

With Ares at his back and the Spartans as his allies, he was poised to sweep across Greece and further west. The Romans were making another bid for the western lands, where the Celts were quickly crumbling, and he was going to have a piece of that. What stood in his way was Xena.

Xena of Amphipolis, warrior princess out of the sticks, and her godsforsaken ability to use the pitiful imitation of a Corinthian army to grind his progress to a halt. Arctureos ground his teeth. Six thousand men injured or dead. He had lost _six thousand_ men in the span of a week or two. The black powder was a terrible idea in retrospect. The crone who sold him the secret in exchange for a cellar full of liquor hadn't told him how dangerous it was to have lying around while the army camped nearby. No matter. He wouldn't be trying that again, and once the Spartans arrived, Xena would be crushed like a bug in a gale.

If Arctureos was going to have the world, he needed to get rid of Xena first.

He gave a quick command and grinned as Ares' army took up a roar behind him, shields rattling and banging against swords and spears. They would keep it up until they flushed Xena out.

He didn't have any delusions about beating her in an honest duel. The point of this was to get her _exactly_ where he wanted her. Then, once the Spartans arrived, they would sweep Amphipolis off of the maps, with the Corinthians and Xena right there along with it.

The Corinthians had formed a line before them in the Amphipolis plains. They were quiet and shifted uncertainly at the noise from Ares' army. A lone rider stepped out and trotted over to Arctureos's lieutenant. Another useless message, Arctureos thought. If Xena didn't hurry, the forests around her nice, peaceful village just might go up in flames.

Arctureos looked up sharply at another fuss.

There was a ripple in the Corinthians' line.

The soldiers at the front parted, and Xena stepped out into the open, her sword unsheathed in her hand and her eyes fixed steadily on his.

Ah. Arctureos smiled. This was more like it.

"Xena!" he called out, walking forward with an exaggerated swagger in his step.

She stopped several arms-lengths from him, but she didn't say anything.

"Oh come now, Xena," he said. "Where's the noble chitchat? Aren't we supposed to psych each other out before a good duel?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he took the opportunity to look her over. There was the white of a bandage peeking out from under her shoulder guard on her sword arm, and her face was heavily flushed. If he concentrated, he thought... He thought he just might have seen her sway.

His grin turned nasty. This was turning out quite well in his favour.

"Aren't you supposed to try to convince me that there's no sense in this war? Don't you want to find out my motivations, see how I tick, and save my immortal soul?"

Finally, she spoke. "I'm no preacher."

Ahh, one of those serious heroes.

"I see, I see. You expect me to learn the errors in my ways through this fight, where we, as fellow swordsmen, communicate best with our blades."

Xena raised an eyebrow at him.

"No," she said, in tones that hinted that she thought he might have heard too many stories. "I expect you to die."

"Chilling," Arctureos said mockingly. Then he had to throw himself back to avoid the sword pointed at his gut. Xena...

Xena was gritting her teeth as her eyesight tried to double on her.

The haze of pain and stiffness had maintained itself at a constant level for so long that she thought she could push through it and ignore it. She hadn't realized her body would refuse to move at the speeds she demanded of it. It was like wading through water.

She watched Arctureos topple back with a squawk and followed the initial jab with a quick downward slice. She smiled grimly. It would be enough against Arctureos.

Arctureos dodged again, hissing when the tip of Xena's blade caught his cheek and sliced a shallow, stinging cut.

He had to stall until the Spartans arrived!

"You're off your game today, huh?" he said, affecting a casual laugh. "Slaughtering my army taking its toll?"

He mentally crowed when he saw Xena falter. Just a bit, but it was enough to drop her next slash too shallow. He parried her blade and pushed her back, off balance.

She still reacted to his next attack more quickly than he could see. He was left with a smarting wrist and a bewildered taste in his mouth.

"I thought you were a hero, Xena!" he said, backing up under her advance. "How do you sleep at night, knowing that thousands of men won't go back to their families after this," he paused to sneer dramatically, "because of _you_!"

He managed to catch her sword on the downswing. The stories all said that she was as strong as ten men. He'd always thought it was an exaggeration, but given the way his elbow was rapidly straining under the force of her swing, he wouldn't be able to block many more of her attacks.

She'd winced. She'd winced and dragged in a harsh breath and shaken her head as if she couldn't see him very clearly and _this_ was his chance.

Arctureos heaved off the blade locked on his and threw his other fist forward into the opening he'd created. He followed with a knee to her stomach and drew his sword back to strike.

Xena grabbed his sword arm and flipped up and back, slamming her boot into his windpipe.

As he fell back and retched, he watched her stagger and spit out a mouthful of blood.

There were agitated stirs coming from the Corinthians.

"Xena!" Ares yelled.

She dropped to one knee, leaning heavily against her sword stabbed into the earth.

Arctureos stared. _Ares?_

"Xena, stop!"

It was Ares.

"You don't have to do this! I'm withdrawing my support from Arctureos!"

The murmuring from behind him turned into a roar.

"What?" Arctureos said, gasping for breath. "You're what?"

He turned and looked at his army. His lieutenant frowned back at him uncertainly.

"You're betraying me?" He pointed an accusing finger at the God of War.

Ares looked at him as if he were the remains of a cockroach squished against his boot. Arctureos refused to be cowed.

"I am the God of War. _I_ choose those who are worthy of my support. Arctureos, you are a manipulative, conniving coward who has just proven himself unworthy."

"_Bullshit!_" He heaved himself up. "I've heard the rumours. It's because of her, isn't it?" He pointed at Xena's bowed form. "Everything I did was for the greater glory of Ares! It's because you have a thing for her!"

Ares stared at him coldly and didn't answer.

"No!" Arctureos yelled. He spun around to see his lieutenant forming up his ranks to retreat. "No! You can't leave me! I _order_ you to stay!"

Armour clanked as they marched away. A few soldiers sneaked looks at him, but they turned away when they caught his eyes.

He spun again with a wordless scream of rage. No matter. None of this would matter when the Spartans arrived. When _the Spartans arrived_, they would obliterate—

They should have been here by now.

The commander said he would send a message when he was several marks away from the meeting point, and he'd gotten that message long ago, and they were _supposed to be here already_.

Horror started creeping over his limbs like ice.

Xena pushed herself to her feet using her sword as a crutch. She seemed to ignore Ares' urgent protests.

Her eyes settled on his, blank and unreadable.

"Wa-wait!" Arctureos said.

She vanished when he blinked, and then he was pushed back by three hard strikes of her blade that left his sword vibrating in his hand and his arm throbbing and feeling like sausage.

"Stop! I surrender!" he said.

To his horror, she lifted her sword again and slashed, nicking his torso.

"I surrender!" he cried, dropping his sword from weak fingers.

The back of Xena's fist caught his chin and sent him sprawling to the ground. Through the black spots, he watched her walk over to him.

Her boot landed heavily on his right arm. He tugged, but there was absolutely no give.

Ares was shouting something else now. It sounded like "Stop!" and "that's enough" to his ears, which were garbling noises en route to his brain. Ares didn't want her to kill him, he realized in relief. Ares was—

Xena lifted her sword in the air, and Arctureos noticed her glazed over eyes. She wasn't hearing anything.

Arctureos's eyes widened until white showed all around as Xena drew her sword back in both hands, ready to stab through him.

It began its descent.

"_Stop!_"

Arctureos cracked an eye open when he didn't feel any cold steel parting his skin and skull. The tip of Xena's sword hovered right above the bridge of his nose.

"Xena, it's okay. You can stop now."

Arctureos watched Xena's face flicker as she stared at the woman who had grabbed her wrist.

"Gabrielle?" Xena said, her voice a hoarse rasp.

"We stopped the war," said Gabrielle. "It's time to stop fighting."

* * *

Gabrielle hovered over Xena's unconscious form for the second time in two days.

Lykus and Ares stood behind her, the former opening wringing his hands and the latter looking as if a lever the length of the universe could not move him.

"Well?" Ares demanded.

Gabrielle sank her head into her hands. "Her fever isn't breaking," she said woodenly. "It's been two days. At this rate..."

Xena shifted and started retching.

Gabrielle pulled her onto her side quickly, tilting her head to let her airway flow freely. There was nothing in her stomach to vomit, and a thin string of saliva ran down her mouth.

"Breathe, Xena," Gabrielle whispered, stroking black bangs off of her face. "Concentrate on breathing."

The infected arm was swollen its entire length and blazing hot.

Xena's eyes cracked open a sliver. They focussed on Gabrielle's face after a while.

"Gabrielle," she said.

"I'm here."

Xena licked cracked lips. "What... what happened?"

"Arctureos was taken with the Corinthians. They've got a prison cell with his name on it." Gabrielle smiled, rubbing Xena's back soothingly. "And the Spartans withdrew."

"Spartans?"

"Arctureos had called them in for reinforcement."

Xena made a distressed noise in her throat.

"Don't worry, Lykus and I stopped them without shedding a single drop of blood. Right, Lykus?"

The boy nodded urgently. "Gabrielle and I started a rockslide in the pass and blocked it completely!" He paused and blushed. "I mean, Gabrielle and the other soldiers did most of the work. I just helped a bit."

"Don't be silly, Lykus. We never would have got there in time if it wasn't for you." Gabrielle turned and smiled at Xena. "He's a real hero, now."

Xena looked at the flushing boy.

"... Lyceus?"

Lykus blinked, confused.

Gabrielle grimaced and ran her hand over Xena's forehead. She was delirious.

Xena tried to sit up, but Gabrielle pressed her firmly down. "You have to rest, Xena. Don't worry, Lykus will still be here later."

There was a fluttering noise and a shimmer of white light behind her.

Gabrielle looked around.

Chang'e stood next to Ares, the rabbit in her arms and a frown on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Gabrielle managed to find her voice.

Chang'e turned her sad eyes to Gabrielle.

"She's dying," the goddess said softly.

Ares reacted first.

"Shut up!" he snarled. "Don't talk about things you don't know!"

Chang'e shook her head. "No, I'm not here because of that. Not exactly."

"Then what?"

Gabrielle recognized the white jade bottle immediately.

"The elixir the White Rabbit makes will heal her."

The room was quiet.

"Then what are you waiting for? Give it to her!"

"It will also grant her immortality."

Gabrielle looked at the bottle, and then at Xena. She shouldn't have been so surprised, she reasoned. It was _called_ the elixir of immortality. But...

Gabrielle shook her head. This wasn't the time for that. Xena's life came first.

She reached out for the bottle, uncorked it, and held it to Xena's lips.

Xena grimaced at the smell.

"I know it smells bad," Gabrielle said softly, "but please drink it. It'll make you feel better."

Xena's eyes opened again.

Gabrielle tilted the bottle encouragingly.

Xena's hand covered the top.

"Immortality?" she said faintly.

Gabrielle hesitated, and nodded.

Xena smiled crookedly, and she pushed the bottle away.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not drinking that."

"Xena!" Gabrielle nearly cracked the bottle in her fist in her frustration. "You're going to die without it!"

Xena chuckled, coughed, and laughed some more. "Don't write me off so soon."

"What?"

"You know me. I'm too stubborn to die." She leaned back onto the bed and turned her eyes to Chang'e. "Thank you," she said, "but no. That is not my Dao."

Chang'e must have seen something in her eyes because she closed her mouth without saying anything and smiled. She bowed, and then she wasn't there anymore.

"Xena..."

"Do you trust me, Gabrielle?"

* * *

That night, her fever broke.

Gabrielle cried.

* * *

Xena picked at the sling restraining her arm irritably. It itched.

Aliyah put a tankard of some kind of sweet tea in front of her and scolded her. Xena just smiled.

The tavern seemed a lot quieter now that the soldiers had gone. There was an elderly couple sharing a meal at one of the corner tables, but other than that, it was deserted.

Gabrielle was out teaching Lykus how to swing a staff without hitting himself in the face.

Xena looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, and she smiled again.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey yourself," said Ares. He sat down across from her.

"You disappeared on me these past days."

Ares looked at the table, at his hands, at Aliyah, but not at her.

Something hollow was growing inside her. "What's wrong?" Xena said.

He fiddled with his gauntlet for a moment, and then he sighed.

"I've been thinking."

There wasn't a snarky response to that like he'd expected. He looked at her fully. "I nearly lost you."

Xena tried to laugh. "Look, I'm perfectly fine. On the way to full recovery."

"That's not what I mean."

Xena frowned.

"It's like..." he said hesitantly. "It's like you become a different person." His eyes flicked up. "Around me. Because of me. Because of War."

Xena's face slowly became blank.

"And... I guess I realized that the you that I love is the you that... isn't around me."

"You think you're changing me."

"You nearly stabbed that man through the head!" Ares said, his words a rush. "And the way you looked when you were doing it... I never want to see that again."

"You've seen me kill before."

"It's not the killing. I don't care about the killing. It's... I feel this horrible black lump in my throat when I realize that _I_ did this to you. That I'm," he paused and huffed a laugh, realizing what he was about to say, "I'm bad for you."

Xena was staring at him. "I thought you said you would never give up," she said finally, her voice soft, ringing in the silence in the tavern.

"And now I've realized the consequences." Ares laughed bitterly. "There were never _consequences_ before I met you."

He picked up her left hand and pressed a wisp of a kiss to her knuckles.

"I love you, Xena," he said. "And I can't do this anymore."

And then there was light, and he was gone. Xena sat still, looking at the empty space where he had been.

"Five dinars says he's just sitting there, waiting for you to call him back."

Xena's fingers twitched at Gabrielle's voice.

Gabrielle stepped forward until she was leaning slightly over her shoulder. "Aren't you going to go after him?"

She clenched them into a fist.

"No," she said tightly. "I can't. He's right."

"Are you sure?"

There was a smile on Xena's face when she turned. Gabrielle hated it immediately.

"Of course," Xena said, taking Gabrielle's hand in hers. "After all, I've got you, right? What else do I need?" She hesitated for a moment. "How about you? Are you..."

Gabrielle squeezed the fingers enlaced in hers. "Yeah," she said. "I'm getting better." She smiled softly. "I love you, Xena."

Xena closed her eyes. Hearing those words from Gabrielle was so much easier than—

"I love you, too."

* * *

Xena flexed her fingers, testing her grip on the hilt of her sword. It felt good to hold it again. The leather wrappings were comfortable and yielding under her palm, where years of wear had rubbed it smooth and soft.

Lifting the blade, she gave a few experimental swings.

Her shoulder might have creaked a bit, but the movements were as smooth as she remembered, albeit a bit slower.

She ran through her sword forms. Slice— high parry— riposte— spin and lunge.

And then she did them again, faster.

This dance was familiar. This was when she felt the most at peace. No blood. No opponent, even. Simply the soul of swordsmanship.

A good opponent, though, one who can match her and challenge her, that was...

Well, that was neither here nor there.

She was cooling down when Gabrielle returned from the river with two fish strung on a piece of twine and a stick.

"See?" she said drily. "I _can_ catch fish without resorting to excessive violence against animals."

Xena chuckled, nudging a chunk of wood further into their campfire. "But I bet it's not nearly as fun."

Gabrielle had buried the fish, wrapped in broad leaves, under the fire when the sound of loud footsteps crunching through the leaves on the ground reached her ears.

"Well, what do we have here? Some little girls playing camp," said a voice. It even _sounded_ unwashed.

"We'll make this real simple fer ya." The spokesman drew what looked like a butcher's cleaver from his belt. "All your worldly possessions, or your life." He paused and grinned with a mouth like a checkerboard. "Although... we could be persuaded to take some other form of payment."

There was the grunting laughter that unoriginal thugs generally associated with this kind of situation. This kind of laugh had been recycled for ages without end.

Gabrielle gave Xena a look, hoping she didn't look as amused as she thought Xena did.

"Well?" the man said, unnerved by the silence.

"How about this," said Xena, standing. She smiled widely as he realized she was taller than he was and better equipped in the weaponry department. "You give _us_ all your weapons and promise never to play at banditry again, and I'll let you off with a slap on the wrist. Yeah?"

The bandits looked at her, looked at each other, and yelled and charged.

Xena caught Gabrielle's eyes and rolled hers. "They never listen."

Gabrielle dodged an uncoordinated lunge, slipped under the outstretched arms, and jabbed the hilt of her sai into the back of his head. He crumpled, giving her access to a second man behind him, who received a couple of quick blows to his chest and stomach and dropped, gasping for his lost breath. Hah. She looked over at Xena. Xena was—

Xena was standing over a doubled-over man, sword raised above her head and ready to strike.

"Xena!" Gabrielle shouted.

She was about to rush over, even though she knew she wouldn't make it in time, when Xena conked the bandit on the head hilt-first. He tumbled to the ground in a heap, out cold.

Xena gave her a mildly defensive look. "What?"

Gabrielle scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed. "Er, behind you?"

Xena knocked the last bandit off his feet with a backhanded punch over her shoulder.

"I saw him."

Yeah, Gabrielle thought. It was going to be alright.

* * *

They'd stopped in a traveller's inn on the road outside Kakopolis. Xena hadn't wanted to get anywhere _near_ Kakopolis, but Gabrielle had firmly told her that just because Kakopolis was on the road to Potidaea, she wasn't about to take a detour through miles and miles more of bloody forest, and Xena should just grow up already. More or less in those terms. Maybe leaning a bit on the less side.

There were two soldiers in the traveller's inn, wearing the colours of Ares' army. Xena had to stop her hand from twitching to her sword. No longer Arctureos's army, she reminded herself.

They were talking quite loudly about a 'smoking hot babe' in Kakopolis.

Xena had just resigned herself to a meal overhung with discussions of said woman's assets, when the soldiers abruptly changed topic.

"Yeah, there's just no getting near him anymore."

"I thought Lord Ares was scary before, but at least back then, he'd bust our balls for clear _reasons_."

"You know he cancelled the raid on Mesopotamia? Told the king who hired us that he should try and talk terms."

"Really?"

"I'm not shitting you. He's changed."

The soldiers paused as if digesting this monumental statement.

"Think he got dumped?"

Gabrielle looked at Xena carefully.

Xena fiddled with a piece of bread for another moment before tossing it down into her bowl in disgust. "The food here sucks," she said, and stood, heading for the stairs leading to the upper floor of the inn.

"Where are you going?"

"Bed," was the curt reply. "We'll get an early start tomorrow. I don't want to stay here for longer than necessary."

Gabrielle sighed.

* * *

That night, Gabrielle had barely drifted to sleep when she awoke to a thump and a muffled curse. Sitting up in bed, she watched Xena struggle to strap her sword onto her back.

"I'll be back," said Xena, noticing her. "Sorry for waking you."

Gabrielle tried to smother a smile. She reached out and flipped a twisted strap.

Xena paused, pulled the strap free, and buckled it in the right way around. "Thanks."

She headed briskly for the door.

"I'll be back," she said again.

Gabrielle snickered and dropped back onto her pillow. "Take your time."

* * *

Ares was trying to read. The fact that his eyes had run over the same line of text five times didn't occur to him and was entirely beside the point. He cleared his throat, shook the scroll to free it of wrinkles, and peered down at the text intently. There had been whispers after the story of Amphipolis got out. Warlords had regarded him with as open of suspicion as they dared, and his campaigns to the east had nearly ground to a halt. He was glad he could still talk circles around any of them, no matter what Xena thought of his intelligen—

The parchment crinkled a bit under his fingers.

It was alright. He was making progress. It kept him busy. The alternative... Never mind the alternative. He was the God of War, and he was perfectly fine.

He didn't look around when his door clicked open.

"I told you I'm busy!" he growled, injecting as much menace into his voice as he could.

The person at the door paused, and then stepped forward again.

"You don't have any time for me, either?"

The scrolled smacked against his table on the way to the floor.

He turned and looked at Xena.

She was watching him steadily, an expression he couldn't place on her face.

"What—" he croaked, stopped, and tried again. "What are you doing here?"

She stepped toward him, and he fought the irrational desire to back away.

"I've been thinking," she said.

He snorted. "What else is new?"

Her lips quirked. "I've been thinking that it's a bit too late."

"For what?"

"To go back to the way things were."

It hurt to look at her.

"Xena, we already—"

"Do you know why?"

He swallowed his half-hearted protests and shook his head.

"Two reasons. The first is that... we've already changed. Both of us. We're not the same people as we were before."

He laughed bitterly. "I know _that_. It's been staring me in the face for the past month."

She hummed in agreement.

"And the second reason?" he asked, against his better judgement.

"The second?"

There were high windows cut into the walls of the temple. The light of the half moon shone through as a beam of silvery white. Full moons get a lot of credit in folklore, but it's the half moons, balanced midway between waxing and waning and ready to tip with the slightest provocation, that bring about change.

She stepped forward into the beam, and her eyes glowed blue.

"The second is that I love you."

* * *

Xena lounged in her leathers on Ares' bed, her armour in a pile on the floor.

She drew up a bare leg and balanced a scroll on her knee. It tried to roll up on her.

"What are you reading?" said Ares from the door.

She looked up. She smiled. He'd tossed his vest and belt onto a table with a grimace.

"Long day?"

"Idiotic warlords."

She chuckled. "It's a message from Hercules. Seems Corinth is doing alright and the king doesn't know what to do with his much more experienced army."

"Huh." He sat at the edge of the bed.

Xena looked up. He was staring at her legs.

"I'll be with you in a minute," she said, a smirk growing.

"No no, far be it for me to take you away from your message from Jerkules."

She rolled her eyes and he sniggered.

When she looked up again, he was still staring.

"What?" she said.

"Have I ever told you that..." he frowned in concentration, "your eyes are like priceless sapphires, set in the milky smooth planes of your face?"

"... What?"

"Or, or, that your hair is like... raven silk, sweetly fragrant and softer than a cloud?"

"Did you hit your head?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to seduce you."

She started to laugh.

He leaned in over her, face twisted in rapturous poetic frenzy. "Your laugh is like peals of the most beautiful bell. Let me lose myself in your sweet embrace, in the honeyed walls of your mouth and the warm caverns of—"

Xena kicked him in the gut.

"Okay," said Ares' voice presently, from somewhere under the bed's horizon. His head popped up like the rise of a black and somewhat scruffy sun. "How about 'let's fuck'?"

Xena sighed, scroll long forgotten. She beckoned at him.

Ares hopped onto the bed and crawled over her, bracing his arms over her head and leering down at her. He wondered briefly if his face might fossilize with too much sleaze.

She dragged one hand slowly down his chest and let the other play with his nape. She tugged his head down until her lips were brushing the shell of his ear.

"You know what?" she said, feather soft.

Ares grunted distractedly.

She lifted one leg against his knee like so, grabbed his arm and neck and bucked up _like so_.

Ares blinked up at her.

Xena leaned down and kissed him, their lips and tongues settling into an easy rhythm.

When she drew back for breath, Xena grinned down at him. "Sometimes, actions speak louder than words," she said.

Ares grinned back and pulled her down for another kiss. "Don't let Gabrielle hear you say that," he said.

And they lived happily—

They were togeth—

They were.

* * *

End


End file.
